Won't You Sing For Me
by withyouandthemoon
Summary: The result of me finally getting over my chronic sloth. All my works for the Klaroline gift exchanges in which I had the greatest luck to participate, originally posted on AO3.
1. Thinking of You Chpt 1

**Author's Note:** _Thinking of You_ , written for Writerwithagoal on AO3 ( childoftimeandmagic on Tumblr), who gave me a prompt of the song _Thinking of You_ by Christian Kane. AU, Werewof!Klaus/Caroline.

* * *

 _Sedona, 2016_

Klaus parks his car just to the side of the little diner. He doesn't have much time anyway-he can already feel the agitation building in his muscles, a hot and sour buzz sneaking in between the seams of his bones. The dry air of Arizona seems more humid than usual, almost like home, a sense of excitement and dread brewing, sending incessant charges through his exposed skin.

An impending full moon does that to you. Especially when you are a wolf.

With long strides Klaus enters the diner, a bell ringing coarsely on the wooden door in his wake. The smell of fat and cheap sauce mixed with old plastic immediately assaults his extra sensitive senses. Forgoing the greasy booths that look like they've seen too much human body fluid, he settles at the bar.

"Burger and fries with coke." He signals at some man behind the counter, not bothering to raise his head from his phone. According to the message he just received his pack is already inside one of the wilderness areas deep into the Coconino Forest. A somewhat routine for them on these cursed days, no matter what area they temporarily reside in-the pack has grown into one of the largest ones in Northern America during the past five years of constant migration, and they can't risk running into stray tourists in their lethal forms.

"You're new."

Sensing someone approaching Klaus instantly puts away his phone, meeting the curious gaze. The man standing in front of him across the counter is well-built, eyes sharp despite the playfulness of his tone.

"And an Aussie." The man slightly furrows his brows, but smiles nonetheless, grabbing the towel on his shoulder and starting to wipe the counter, seemingly in for a long conversation.

"And in a hurry." Klaus is in no mood to justify the origin of his accent.

The man laughs mid-wipe, winking at Klaus, "someone's cranky. It's that time of the month, huh?" he ignores Klaus' menacing glare and continues, "don't worry, I've already put your order in. Wouldn't want you wandering around Sedona on a full moon."

"And what about you, mate?" Klaus lifts one brow, a crooked smile donned on the corner of his lips, "not afraid of fairy godmother's magic running out at midnight?" He can recognize the smell from a mile away. Wolves can't hide from each other even if their lives depend on it.

The guy grimaces, "I'm gonna be the bigger person and assume that you were comparing me to the pumpkin." He then offers a good-natured smile, "my family has lived here for several generations. Let's just say we have our own _shelter_ ," he rolls his eyes on the word, "for the monthly ordeal. Oh, I'm Mason by the way."

Klaus examines Mason's face for a second before shaking the offered hand briefly, "Klaus."

"So Klaus, what brings you to the fine town of Sedona?" Mason resumes his work at the counter.

"Just…running some errands." He actually came to visit a small art gallery by the Oak Creek River this morning but Klaus isn't about to divulge. Art has always been fairly personal to him and he rarely shares these ventures with anyone, except _her_. The thought brings a dull ache all too familiar to his heart, and Klaus silently bites his teeth to maintain a stoic expression.

"A man of few words, I see." Mason snorts, "probably a wolf thing." Just then a pick-up call sounds from the kitchen. Mason retrieves Klaus' meal, setting it in front of him before asking, "where are you going later? You know, when the moon comes up?"

"Into the forest. My pack is waiting for me." Klaus bites into his burger. It actually tastes okay, the bread soft and meat juicy, with a generous layer of pickles-just the way _she_ likes it. The burger turns to saw dust in his mouth the instant that notion creeps into his mind, making it hard to swallow all of a sudden.

"Wait, so you're the alpha of that new pack in town?" Mason exclaims in a hush, "wow. Your pack's huge! I heard that you guys came from the north. Although I've got to say, nice choice. It's much warmer and way pleasant down here."

Klaus finishes the burger in a few bites while Mason gushes over-excitedly. He's lost his appetite, but he needs the strength for the turn tonight. "We're actually from Mystic Falls originally, " he can't help the wistful smile, though he clears his throat to hide it upon noticing Mason's surprised look, "it's a small town in Virginia. But we are constantly on the move. It's not safe for a pack this big to stay in one place for too long. "

He stays silent for a split second before correcting in a steely voice, but his eyes are warm with a faraway look, like the reflection of the rosy rocks in the outskirts of Sedona bathed in sunset, "and I'm not the alpha."

His alpha has always been the one and only from the very start.

* * *

 _Mystic Falls, 2005_

Klaus sidestepped yet another crunchy fallen leaf, careful not to make a sound. Years of being an outcast of every pack he had ever been dropped into had taught him many things, the ability of making himself scarce being one of them, and sensing others' hidden hostility another.

He knew when he wasn't welcome. And he wasn't about to expose himself as an easy target.

He remembered Ayanna's words before leaving, "try to fit in. It wouldn't be the worst thing." And he merely shrugged at that, ignoring her aged eyes with a hint of sadness in them. Easy for her to say, when she's not the one being cast among packs and guardians like some smelly rotten meat. Even she herself didn't want anything to do with him.

Yet to be fair, he wasn't supposed to be Ayanna's responsibility to begin with. She was, after all, just his mother's friend from a long time ago. And his mother had been dead upon his birth bed. Right here in this dreary little town, no farther than three miles from where he stood.

He had thought that he would feel something, here being his birth place and all. Some sense of familiarity or belonging, that tiny little click in your heart signaling the closure of a long existing rift, even if just a part of it. But he felt nothing, except the unpleasant humidity and heat that he'd heard about. After sixteen years he finally returned to the land that he hadn't once stepped his foot on, and yet he just felt…sweaty. Nothing had changed really.

And Klaus suspected that it never would.

But one thing did change. He was officially addressed as _Klaus_ now. Thanks to his new alpha. The thought brought an imperceptible smile to his face.

He had heard of the young alpha from Ayanna before they arrived. Her parents died in a battle against vampires when she was only seven, and the little girl, being their only heir, had been groomed to become the alpha with the help of the elders in the pack for the past six years. Expecting some cold and overbearing brat, Klaus was taken aback at the meeting last week where he was introduced to her and the pack for the first time.

"Your name's Niklaus? That's kind of strange." The girl's blond curls bounced on her shoulders at the involuntary tilt of her head, her blue eyes brimming with curiosity. Perhaps noticing the surprised look on Klaus' face, she quickly caught herself, an adorable shade of pink creeping up her cheeks, "sorry…that was rude of me. It's just a little uncommon."

Klaus smiled a little. He'd seen his fair share of alphas, but never one had the propensity (or the gut) to apologize this easily, if at all. He bowed his head slightly without breaking eye contact, "it was the name my father gave me. I do not particularly care for it myself."

The girl seemed thoughtful for a moment, biting her lips while observing him quietly. Klaus could recognize kind eyes when he spotted a pair, but her eyes were also penetrating despite their obvious innocence. After a few seconds she said a little shyly, but with determination in her voice, "what would you like to be called then?"

He paused a beat, and then responded equally resolute, "Klaus."

She nodded solemnly, her eyes sweeping through the pack members around them before landing back on him, her face instantly morphing from that of a young girl's to an unquestionable leader's, all shyness replaced by confident authority, "welcome to the pack, Klaus."

Klaus held her eyes for a second longer, mesmerized by her power or trying to see through her mask he couldn't even tell himself. "I haven't had the honor to know the name of my alpha." His tone was intended to be teasing, but came out sincere beyond his comprehension.

And the amazingly bright smile was back on her face, "I'm Caroline."

Klaus hadn't seen a smile like that for the past week from any other. Though he was welcomed into the pack by Caroline, it seemed that some of the pack members did not share their alpha's mind. And the crack of a branch he was hearing right that second was enough testament.

"Why so furtive when you've clearly outnumbered me?" He was good at avoiding conflict, yes, but not so cowardly as to back out of an inevitable fight.

Three men sauntered out from the thick bush beside him. Klaus recognized the faces which had shown nothing but contempt and resentment from a far corner where other pack members had approached him with cautious hospitality, or at least indifference. They were all lesser in built, clearly not the main fighters of the pack, with flickery eyes of greed more akin to hyenas than wolves.

"Look who's all smug with his limey accent and fancy words." One of the three stepped up, thumbs tucked in the back pockets of his baggy jeans, seemingly the leader of their pathetic little group. Klaus vaguely remembered seeing him talking to Caroline in a similar posture, and the young alpha had kicked his sorry ass in no more than a full sentence. Klaus had to hand it to the girl-not wasting your time on losers is such a rare virtue these days.

"John, is it?" He lifted an eyebrow, folding both hands behind his back, "I see you've been loafing around, yet another day. Quite a commendable life style really."

John snorted, glaring at him, "shut it, smart ass. You should respect your elders. Especially when you are living off of our pack like a little leech." He took another menacing step towards Klaus, sizing him up with a lopsided grin, "why did you get thrown out of your last one anyway? They've finally realized what a useless trash you are?" The other two men with him snickered at that in support.

"If incompetence alone justifies an exile you'd be long gone from this pack." Klaus opened his arms in a mocking gesture, "sadly that's not the case. So here you are, still _leeching_ , to quote your colorful vocabulary."

John narrowed his eyes, "you are a mouthy one, aren't you?" His face contorted into a taunting smirk, "shouldn't have been a surprise. With your slut of a mother, opening her legs for one of ours behind her husband's back. I bet she's a loud one, just like you. How else would she land a wolf? Humans ain't got the moves, must be the-"

He was cut short by a fist right in his jaw from a lunging Klaus. He stumbled back, startled, and Klaus was already on him, hands clutching his throat in a vice grip. John opened his mouth in sheer horror, but the only sounds coming out were shattered whimpers.

At that moment the other two men finally came to their senses and rushed to his rescue, one pinning Klaus in a headlock while the other tried to pry his hands away. Klaus growled, violently shrugging the one behind him away, using the momentum to bang John's head heavily into the ground. John let out another pained groan, legs kicking like crazy, his face turning almost purple from the lack of oxygen. The man beside him landed a hard punch in Klaus' stomach. Klaus winced, his grip loosening, but for some reason the man who just punched him was now holding him firmly in place.

"Put that stone down, Logan." A beautiful female voice interrupted the chaos. Everything went still around him, including the grip on his shoulders, John's malicious grin that appeared on his face seconds ago, and the hot and labored breath that he could suddenly feel behind him.

"I will not repeat myself, Logan." The voice spoke again, lower this time, each word cold and clear like light reflecting from the edge of a sword, but Klaus could almost detect the underlying urgency. "Do as I say."

Klaus heard a dull sound of something dropping to the ground not far from him, and then the breath behind him was gone. He dug his fingers into John's neck one more time, making him shout out in pain before releasing him, standing up and turning to face his alpha.

Caroline's lips were pressed into a thin line, arms crossed in front of her chest, a few stray curls from her ponytail falling into her face only to be pushed away by her angered breath. She eyed Klaus inconspicuously from head to toe as if checking for injuries before setting her gaze on the other three, stopping them dead in their track to approach.

"That little son of a bitch!" John cried out dramatically, "he nearly choked me to death!"

"I have three things to tell you, John." Caroline smirked, holding out a hand and beginning to count down her fingers, "one, I am neither blind nor an idiot. I know what I saw. I don't need you to describe it for me, thank you very much. Two, language. Hello? Minors here! Watch your tongue." She rolled her eyes, "and three, congratulations on being beaten up by a sixteen-year-old, after you _ambushed_ him with your _buddies_."

Klaus idly turned around with a smirk of his own. He couldn't resist seeing John's face at this very moment, and he wasn't disappointed. John's eyes were round with shock and fury, veins popping out in the corner of his forehead. He opened his mouth to speak, but Caroline beat him to it with an upholding index finger, "and no, before you protest, please refer to the first thing I told you. I so not want to repeat myself. It's inefficient and boring."

Klaus strained himself so much to hold back a laugh his stomach hurt where he was just punched. A pretty face, a sharp tongue and an attitude. The young alpha sure was full of surprises.

But John apparently wasn't amused. He shot Klaus a dirty look and all but spat out, "Caroline, you don't know what you are doing with this one here. He's bad news to all of us. His mother had an affair with some loser from our pack and got herself knocked up. She died from giving birth to this demon spawn," he accusingly pointed a finger at Klaus, "but not before spilling the beans to her husband. Dude went crazy-not that I could blame him. Took a gun and went after our whole pack."

Klaus' blood boiled from John's words, but he just felt cold all over. He glared unseeingly at John, shoulder square and spine straight, as if bracing himself for an impending storm.

"His real dad was shot, his fake dad killed himself after, innocent pack members lost their lives in the middle of it. He's brought nothing but filth, blood and death to this world ever since he was born." John snorted disparagingly, "why do you think he spent all those years in Europe and not one of the packs kept him? Why do you think your own father turned him away?"

Klaus had heard enough. He bit his teeth, ready to throw himself at John again, consequences be damned. But a small hand closed around his wrist, delicate fingers trembling slightly yet firm like the voice of their owner, "those other packs turned him away because people like you, unfortunately, are everywhere. And my father…had his reasons. But I'm not my father. And I've already welcomed Klaus into our pack so I suggest you defer to your alpha and cut the crap."

John squinted dangerously, "you may be the alpha, Caroline, but I'm older than you." He took a step forward, and the other two followed suit, "As an adult here it is my duty to keep dirty little bastards from clouding your judgment."

Klaus was still half froze from Caroline's touch. All he could feel was the warm skin around his like a soothing little whisper that he didn't register John's cutting words or their threatening manners. Before he knew it the three of them came at him in a rush. He was expecting painful strikes when a hand shoved him back roughly, but without extra force. He looked up shocked to see Caroline holding John back with her two hands against his chest, and the other two with merely her fiery eyes, blocking him from their onslaught.

"You will not insult him in my face." She raised her head to look John in the eyes, her voice strained due to the effort of fending him off, "you will show respect to him. You will not bring up his past again, which has nothing to do with himself, or you for that matter, and is nothing compared to the disgusting deeds you've committed."

John huffed in barely-masked contempt, towering over her, "and why would I do that to a _worthless_ _bastard_?" he bit the last two words out while sending a side glare at Klaus.

"Because he's my _beta_." Caroline responded without missing a beat, "because I now name Klaus the beta of this pack."

"You what?" John exclaimed disbelievingly, stepping back in shock. With his sudden retreat Caroline lost balance and fell to the ground. John laughed hysterically, "oh little Caroline, no need to apologize this hard for your moment of insanity. He's got a pretty face, I'll give you that."

Caroline jumped to her feet with a growl, her hands balled into fists, catapulting towards John like a booming firework. John raised his hands in defense, immersed too deep into the fighting scene to care about her status in the pack. But in an instant Klaus was before her, blocking Caroline from the three's harm for a change.

"Don't you dare lay a finger on my _alpha_." The phrase flowed out of his mouth so naturally, as if it had been sealed inside him long ago and was now freed from its dormant state, along with it liberating hidden strength and conviction. And then he felt it, the little click deep in his heart, the tiny yet unmistakable signal that the black-hole-like rift was beginning to close as a whole.

John's brazen voice caught his attention, "getting into your new role pretty quick, huh? You two really are a pair." He narrowed his eyes, "but what would the pack think? Little Caroline here has just crowned her latest crush the beta. What would the others say when they know about this?"

"Bravo, perhaps." Another female voice sounded from behind the bushes, "from your bruises I'll assume he's a decent fighter, and has good judgment of character."

Klaus turned around to see a young woman standing a few feet away with hands on her hips. If he recalled correctly her name was Jenna. She had approached him shortly after the introduction meeting and shown him around.

Before John could answer another voice cut in, "I'm not opposed to the idea. He's loyal enough from the looks of it." A middle-aged man Klaus didn't know the name of appeared beside Jenna. Then yet another voice from the other side of them, "I trust Caroline. If she's decided then I'm all for it." This one Klaus knew. It was one of Caroline's close friends. Bonnie, was it?

Then more voices came from all directions around them. "Me too." "Count me in." "And me." apparently their little commotion had drawn the whole pack here and Klaus was surprised beyond words that so many people, the majority of whom he didn't even knew, were defending the new beta of the pack, namely _him_ , with similar determination. He looked back at Caroline, for the first time in so long showing a dumbfounded expression, but Caroline just smiled at him and reached out to squeeze his hand.

"John, you've heard the pack." One of the elders, Sheila, stepped out of the crowd circling them, "now stand down and show some respect to your alpha and beta, or face an exile."

John stared at Sheila, then Caroline, then Klaus for a few moments, his gaze less and less hostile with each passing second and the silent pressure from the whole pack. Finally he stepped back and bowed his head down a little, the other two immediately following his lead. In the loud cheer of the crowd Klaus met Sheila's eyes, deep and knowing like they held all the answers in the world. "Don't let us down." He heard her saying, "don't let _her_ down." And that's when he realized Caroline was still holding his hand.

Later when the crowd dispersed, he turned to look at Caroline in their silent trek into the woods, now composed enough to ask, "why me?"

He didn't let the full sentence out but Caroline seemed to understand him just fine. She tilted her head slightly, the afternoon sunlight outlining her soft profile like golden frosting, sweet and satiny, "why not you?"

"It's not exactly nice to answer a question with another one, is it?" Klaus wiggled his brows.

She huffed a laugh, poking him in the ribs, "I just saved your ass back there so I think I'm nice enough."

Klaus stared at her wide-eyed, but she just stared back with large blue eyes, not budging an inch. "Fine," he faked an exasperated sigh, "I'm new here, I'm not old enough, and I don't have a shiny track record." His voice lowered, "I wouldn't deem someone like myself worthy of being a beta." The moment those words left his mouth he regretted them, so he looked aside to avoid Caroline's eyes.

But she didn't seem to notice his discomfort, "why did you ask my name that day?"

He snorted, "sweetheart, you've asked me two questions now and yet to answer mine. That's hardly fair."

She wrinkled her nose, blushing uncontrollably, "sweetheart? What's that, some British pick-up expression?"

"Now that's the third, _sweetheart_." He retorted playfully.

She rolled her eyes, "you and me both know life isn't fair, Klaus. Suck it up." She crossed her arms in front her chest stubbornly, "I'm not telling you until you answer all my questions."

He opened his arms, palms up in defeat, "well, it just seemed right, you know? I give you my name, you give me yours. General courtesy." He intended to stop there, but her clear eyes were like some elixir of verity to him, and he couldn't help but divulge, "and I was curious. About you. If we weren't in front of all those people I would've asked you a lot more than your name."

"What do you want to know?" She asked quietly.

He took in a deep breath, "Your hopes. Your dreams. Everything you want in life."

Caroline laughed at that, her long eyelashes trembling like a hummed tune, and Klaus found himself longing to discover what was behind. But then she spoke, this time more serious, "of all the people I formally met, you were the first to ask about my name. Others either knew about me already, or they didn't care. I was the alpha. That was all they needed to know."

For a moment her eyes were filled with too much wistfulness to be that of a teenage girl's. But Caroline quickly blinked and faced him with a bright smile, "but you made me feel like _Caroline_. And that's so wonderful."

"And the way you told me your name?" She continued, "you seemed so sure. Like, you know about who you are and what you want and all the things that you said you wanted to ask me. And I want to know those things too." Her face was flushed and glowing as if the sheer prospect of discovering the truth lighted her up from the inside.

Klaus felt he was going blind. It was like looking directly into the sun, and the light was so strong that it burned a sizzling mark on your retina and you just felt warm and satiated. Only this wasn't on his eyes. It was in his dark, cold heart. He almost didn't trust his own voice, "you are smart, sweetheart. You'll figure it out." He smiled at her gently, "all in good time."

He reached out to her face inadvertently, only to catch himself at the last minute, changing directions to the crown of her head instead, "hold still, there's something in your hair." He removed the long feather tangled in her blond curls, "it must have gotten there when you fell."

Caroline snatched the feather from his hand in horror, wielding it midair frantically, "what? You mean I've had this in my hair all this time? I had a bird feather, in my hair, while everyone watched, and you didn't tell me until now? Oh my god this is a disaster!"

"I seemed to recall we were facing more pressing matters at the time." Klaus pressed his lips hard to hold in the laughter.

"Stop laughing! It's not funny!" Caroline stomped her feet, now very teenager-like.

Klaus grinned while retrieving the feather from her hand, "easy there, love." He smoothed the poor thing between two fingers, "it's a blue jay's tail feather." He showed it to Caroline in his palm, "beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah it is." Caroline calmed down at his words, touching the feather again in a delicate gesture, and the instant her fingertip made contact with his skin through the thin layer of fluff Klaus felt a jolt of electricity flowing through his body.

Words jumbled on his tongue but nothing coherent would come out. In the end he just carefully stuck the feather back into her hair, this time just to the side of the top of her ponytail like a little embellishment, "blue suits you Caroline. It brings out your eyes."

And she let him.


	2. Thinking of You Chpt 2

_Sedona, 2016_

Caroline sits at the bar in the small diner, examining her perfectly manicured nails. She's a little sad she'll have to say good-bye to them soon. No matter how careful and experienced you are, your nails are bound to chip a little while shifting. One of the worse aspects of being a wolf. But no need sitting here pouting. She raises her head yet again and waves at the waiter who finally notices her. Thank god the morning rush has died down.

She smiles at the waiter who's now standing next to her, waiting until his pencil is readily poised above his pad and begins to order, "good morning. I'd like a burger, extra pickles with fries."

The waiter lifts one eyebrow, not hiding his surprise, "burger for breakfast?"

Caroline shrugs, "it's practically time for brunch anyway. And I need the extra calories for later." She tilts her head to the side, eyeing the waiter with a smirk, "you're a wolf, right? You know how it is." Not waiting for a response she blurts out wide-eyed, "oh, and a large coke. Not the diet ones. I want real sugar in it." She taps her index finger on the counter to emphasize the point.

The waiter laughs while jotting it down, "you are an upfront one. And really…lively. I'll blame it on the moon." He winks before extending a hand, "I'm Mason."

"Caroline." She returns the favor, "and the _liveliness_ is all me."

She watches him retreating to the kitchen to put in the order, her mind already miles and years away from the here and now. She can't help but think back to all the times when someone said that she had so much _life_ in her.

It's ridiculous really. One moment she's living her life, going through the motions like every normal people around her, and the next she's sucked into this alternative universe or something where there's only the two of them. Sometimes she feels like even time doesn't exist in that platform. They're stilled into eternity like one of his paintings, but no fire or water of this world can ever ruin what is there.

The sentiment-now _that_ she blames on the moon.

"So…a lone wolf, huh?" A voice sounds from across the counter, "what brings you to our town?"

Caroline looks up to see Mason back with her coke. She eagerly takes it, going for a large sip before answering him with a contented smile, "well, the red rocks, the forest, and the weather."

Mason huffs, "the rocks and forest are pretty awesome indeed, but I don't know about the weather."

"At least it's warm here." Caroline rolls her eyes, "you try staying in northern Europe for a year. I mean, the scenery's amazing, but a girl's gotta stick to a healthy dose of sunshine and heat. And sundresses."

Mason nods while contemplating her up and down playfully, "yeah, the weather here obviously agrees with you," he gestures to her flowery attire, "and the sundress of course." After sharing a laugh he changes the topic, "I take it you are world traveling?"

"I _was_ world traveling." Caroline lowers her eyes, playing absent-mindedly with the straw, an unreadable expression clouding her face, "I'm going home now." The last sentence rolls off her tongue like a magical spell, just the sound of it lighting the flames deep buried in her soul, filling her with warmth and draining her with longing at the same time.

"And where is home if I may ask?" Mason watches her curiously.

Caroline pushes a few strands of hair out of her face with a wry smile, "I'm not sure." She shakes her head a little, biting her lips for a few moments before continuing, "I haven't always been a lone wolf you know. I left my pack five years ago and I've been…out of touch since. I heard from some other wolf they were moving around quite a bit these days."

The day she heard that news she got completely drunk for the first time in five years. People often say that you are supposed to go wild and loosen up on these trips, getting inebriated on both the views and the liquor. But Caroline hasn't been so much as tipsy on her long tour. No complementing the sunset in Sydney with bottles of champagne, no doing shots with fellow travelers in the gloomy alleys of London, no vodka stream to ward off the coldness of Moscow. The world had so much to offer and she wasn't about to waste a second in meaningless alcohol.

Yet the day she heard that her pack was no longer in Mystic Falls where she was heading straight to, she drank herself shot and shot into oblivion. For the past five years she had tasted loneliness and nostalgia and a craving almost as strong as the pull of the full moon, but never had she felt so lost. For an instant the pain was so unbearable as if she was being stripped of her roots.

Her pack. And her…beta.

"I see." Mason now has a knowing smirk on his face, "childhood sweetheart? Soul mate? Love of your life?"

"How about all of the above?" Caroline laughs, not bothering to ask how Mason has guessed. She's been told millions of times she's practically an open book. "But you better not let him hear you say that. He'll be so embarrassed he'd probably pick a fight with you just to cover it up." She twirls a little smugly on her stool, "and I won't lie. He's a great fighter."

Mason doesn't seem to mind her bragging, carrying on their conversation good-naturedly, "he must have been pretty reluctant to let you go."

"Actually, he supported me without a doubt." Caroline looks outside the window, the shining waves of the Oak Creek River reflected in her eyes like sweet memories reviving, "he's always been able to see me for not only what I am, but what I could be."

* * *

 _Mystic Falls, 2006_

Hearing the approaching footsteps a few feet away, Caroline tilted her head further into the soft grass she was lying on, hiding a smile that she just couldn't suppress. She called out without opening her eyes, "surprise, surprise. You found me."

The golden sunlight behind her eyelids was suddenly blocked away, an amused voice following, "that's because you are a person willing to be found." She felt him sitting down right beside her, their hands so close the tiny hairs on the back were touching tentatively, the tickling sensation making the corners of her lips turn up a little more. Or was it the grass?

"That's so not true." She protested half-heartedly, her eyes still closed, "I took extra care to disappear from the party quietly, without anyone noticing."

"Anyone but me."

Caroline laughed, this time opening her eyes to whack him on the thigh. He grimaced, mouthing the word "ouch" dramatically. She gave a little snort, but reached out to run a few soothing circles on the spot she just hit, "you don't count. Is there anything that you don't notice? I swear Klaus you are the most observant person I've ever seen, borderline paranoid. You are like…a hawk, or something."

"Is that so?" Klaus lifted his eyebrows, eyes squinted with a teasing little smile, "hey, what kind of earrings was Elena wearing when you left?"

"Oh the green lime stone ones her mother gave her last year. She was wearing the silver pair this morning, but from what I saw Matt accidentally spilled drink on her shoes so she had to change them, but then those earrings didn't go with the new shoes so…" she halted in her speech, noticing his pointed look and barely contained laughter, "oh ha-ha, very funny." She pushed him roughly to the side, "I'm a girl. I'm supposed to catch up on these things."

"No Caroline." Klaus straightened up, still laughing, "well yes, but not entirely." His eyes softened almost instantly, "admit it or not, you are always watching everything going on around you with sharp eyes. Just like me."

Caroline shrugged, "I'm a control freak. It's annoying, I know." She turned around to the other side, facing him with her back.

A hand reached over to pinch her slightly on the cheek. Caroline batted it away with a huff, but his next words surprised her mid-motion, "it's adorable." The cheek he just touched suddenly felt hot and flushed, so Caroline rolled back to press it into the cool grass. She cleared her throat before speaking, her eyes looking down, "how did you find me anyway?"

Klaus lay down next to her, arms folded under his head, "this is your favorite spot, isn't it?" He gave her a side peek, "an open clearing with enough sun, thick grass, no mud or dirt, close enough to the party to hear the faint music and cheering, but not close enough to actually run into anyone-unless they know where to look."

Caroline rolled her eyes, "show off." But a smile adorned her lips on its own accord. She didn't ask him how he knew all these things about her that no one else would have guessed in a million years, and he didn't ask why she sneaked out of her best friend Elena's birthday party-a party she planned no less.

Silence had never sit quite well with Caroline. She knew a lot of people enjoyed it-hell she knew a lot of people appreciated someone who enjoyed it, but she couldn't stand it no matter what. To Caroline it was like this incomprehensible monstrosity that constantly ate at her, a void that threatened to swallow her up whole with each passing second and she just had to fill it up with trivial chatter and frivolous converse. Really she'd feed her soul to it if needed.

But not with Klaus. In Klaus' presence, silence somehow felt not only tolerable, but even…comforting sometimes. Maybe it was because she knew that she would never be a nuisance whenever she decided to break it.

"Have you ever felt like you don't belong?" She looked up at him, noticing the dark shadows passing through his features, immediately embarrassed by her impropriety. He was abandoned at birth, shifting from pack to pack because of some selfish alphas who didn't care enough about the well-being of a child that wasn't their own. Of course he'd felt like an outcast. Why did she always have to go and say the wrongest wrong things? She squeezed his hand with a frown, stuttering, "I'm…I'm so sorry, Klaus, I didn't mean…"

To her utter surprise, Klaus squeezed back reassuringly, "I know." He smiled at her, retreating his hand to tuck a stray curl behind her ear, "and I'll take that as a rhetorical question."

"well, yeah, kinda…" she smiled back hesitantly, "it's just that, sometimes I'm in a big crowd and everyone's partying hard, drinking, dancing, laughing, talking to each other, and I suddenly feel that I don't fit in. Like, at all." Her voice was barely audible, "it's like I'm this odd piece in a puzzle, and it's a nice picture with or without me."

Klaus propped his head up with one hand, "you know that's not true, love." He watched her face closely as if trying to read something out of it, "you are the alpha of the pack. Without you this pack would fall apart and we'd all be lost for sure."

Unexpected rage pierced through Caroline's heart and she jumped into a sitting position, tossing her hands up with a frustrated growl, "that's just _it_! I'm the alpha. Everyone comes to me and stays close to me and maybe even looks up to me only because I'm the alpha." She bit her lip hard, plucking several leaves of grass in preoccupation, the fresh smell of plant bleeding into the air fueling her fury, "I seem popular and likable as the alpha, not as myself, as _Caroline_."

"Sweetheart you are overthinking things-" Klaus tried to reason with her only to be cut short by her shriek.

"Don't you dare patronize me!" She pointed a finger at him warningly, the broken grass in her palm flying out in the process, hitting him right in the face. Klaus stared at her wide-eyed and Caroline deflated almost instantly, wiping the stains on his cheekbone in a rush, "sorry…that was uncalled for." She sighed, "see? I can't even get mad properly."

Her hand hovered over his face in a moment of disorientation and Klaus caught it inside his, running his thumb across the knuckles comfortingly, "that's part of your charm, sweetheart." His eyes bore into hers, the look so intense she found herself sucked into the pools of blue without so much as a chance to breathe.

"You know how many incompetent alphas I've seen?" he continued in a low voice, "they were all arrogant, entitled. They didn't care what their pack members thought of them as a person, as long as they didn't undermine their authority and obeyed their every bidding. Don't take me wrong-they were good fighters, providers of the pack, but they were also cold and selfish. If ever the need arose they'd throw you to the wolves-or in our case, other deadly supernatural beings-without a blink."

He sat up, inching closer to her, still holding her hand, "but you are different, Caroline. You connect with your pack. You try your best to be there for them. Remember the first time April turned?"

Caroline nodded, a little confused. April was a year younger than her, but a few months ago when she was driving into town someone jumped out of nowhere in front of her car, and her curse was thus triggered. The poor girl was scared out of her mind, having to turn at such a young age.

"You didn't have to be there-Sheila was guiding her through it. But you never left her side, did you?" Klaus tilted his head towards her, his dimples coming out in a gentle smile.

Caroline swallowed, averting her eyes, "it wasn't like I was gonna get hurt or anything." It was in their instinct to not hurt one of their own after shifting.

Klaus snorted, "tell that to the heartless scums when I first turned." This time it was his turn to look away, not acknowledging Caroline's curious gaze, "the point is, you are fiercely loyal, and that makes you a fine wolf, and a worthy alpha." He looked back at her, his tone now heavy and serious, the ordeals he had been through in his young life seeping through, "no matter how much human-like we may seem, we are wolves. World's cruel, life's tough, there's no avoiding it."

"And people might not think of you when they want to share the latest gossip; they might forget to seek you out for a harmless heart-to-heart or sleep-over; they might lack the decency to keep you in their boring social loop," he huffed at those words, and yet his eyes holding hers were soft with so much care, like she was a precious jewel and he could keep any scratch or abrasion from her with merely his gaze, "but at the end of the day, when faced with threat or crisis, you'll always be the first on their mind, because they know they can count on you."

He sighed deeply, his eyes suddenly hard and his expression almost apologetic, although Caroline couldn't figure out why. "It's hardly fair, sweetheart," he caressed her cheekbone with a single finger, "but it's their fault, not yours."

"And what about you?" the question blurted out before she even noticed, "will you always think of me on a bad day?"

He chuckled slightly, his eyes a bright blue color, lighted with pure affection, "that's downplaying it a bit too much, love." He lowered his head, seeming abashed all of a sudden, peering at her through his lashes, "to me…any day spent with you is a gift. You make a dark day normal, a normal day shine, and a shiny day unforgettable."

Caroline blushed furiously, "you are so cheesy."

He snorted loudly, faking indignance, "I'll have you know that one was a hundred percent original."

She laughed at his childish antics before shaking her head, "even if you are right, and maybe I am a great problem-fixer, it still can't hide the fact that I'm…I'm shallow." She lowered her head once again to play with her intricate braid.

"Why would you think that?" He sounded so shocked and Caroline's anger-at him or at herself she couldn't decide-was back full force.

"You see this?" She waved the end of her braid at him. Her hair was neatly done in a complicated pattern, shiny blond curls woven into delicate tiny braids all around her forehead, framing her heart-shaped face before gathering at the side and knitted into another longer braid decorated with carefully-placed little white flowers.

"Yes," Klaus contemplated her hair with appreciation, "very elegant. Ancient Greek style I presume?"

Caroline nodded, taken aback, "yeah, I um…saw it from a blog and thought I'd try it out."

"I remember seeing a sculpture with similar hairstyle in Athens," Klaus smiled, "though I must say the object wasn't nearly as beautiful as you."

Caroline blushed before realizing they were off-topic, huffing in annoyance, "well it took me more than two hours to get it right, just because I wanted to look good and different at a party that wasn't even mine! Two whole hours on my hair! I mean, you can't get more superficial than that if you tried."

"And when did you get up this morning?" Klaus asked with an expression much too amused for her liking.

"Five. Why? I have to get to the party on time." She shrugged, not sure what that had to do with her point.

Klaus opened his arms, "exactly. You got up at five o'clock in the morning to make sure that you could properly arrange this party that you planned while looking amazingly nice. I don't see anything superficial about effort and hard work."

"Well when you put it like that…" Caroline pouted, trying to gather her tangling thoughts, "but I just want to be deep and mysterious for once, like Elena and Bonnie, you know? Reading, writing journals, talking about life and souls and universe, being spontaneous." She looked up at him almost miserably, "it's bad enough I'm a blonde. I have to go reinforcing the stereotype and only care about clothes and make-up and stupid chick flicks."

"Hey, I'm a blonde too." Klaus gently pulled her braid.

"But you are one of the deep ones." Caroline fixed him a weak glare, "have you seen the looks on the girls' faces when you talked about the Louvre? They were totally swooned."

Klaus stared her for a few seconds, a pondering look on his face before suddenly taking her hand and pulling her up to her feet, "come on, love. Let's go."

"Go where?" Caroline asked while already falling into steps after him.

Klaus looked back at her with an intriguing smile, "I've seen your favorite spot. Now let me show you mine."

Ten minutes later Caroline found herself sitting by a stream deep in the woods. She had never been to this part of the woods before-it was too dangerous for underage wolves like her who hadn't triggered the curse. It was quiet, far from where their pack resided, the only sound the water running into low-reaching branches of the shrubs and the occasional chirping from unknown birds.

"Look at the water." Klaus said quietly after letting the view sink in for a few minutes.

She tilted her head at him, "that's a little too Disney even for me."

"Not your _reflection_ ," he rolled his eyes, though a small smile was tugging at his lips, "look at the stream."

Caroline followed his words and refocused on the stream before her eyes. It really was just a tiny rivulet flowing through the massiveness of protruding roots, sheltering branches and fallen leaves. But from where they were sitting, the sunlight hit the surface of the water at just the right angle, turning it into a belt of liquid gold and diamonds, shinier than the sun itself. And suddenly the silence of the woods was overruled by this running verse of light, its every wave a laughter, every whirlpool a sigh.

"It's…breathtaking." Caroline whispered in awe.

"It is." Klaus replied in a similar tone, "It always amazes me how the stream catches every drop of sun and amplifies it tenfold. How such a small body of water can light up miles of dark woods in your eyes. How vivacious it is. How resilient." She felt his eyes on her when he uttered the next words, "it reminds me of you, Caroline."

Surprised, she turned to look at him, and his eyes lighted up further at the sight of hers, as if she was brighter than the shining stream just inches away from them. "Me?" the word tasted foreign on her tongue.

"Is it so hard to believe?" Klaus smirked, "you are strong, beautiful, full of light. People may call this shallow," he reached out a hand to touch the water, "but I know better." He looked back at her, his eyes half blue from his irises and half gold from the reflection, "every stream leads to the ocean, sweetheart."

Caroline stared at him speechless, his words resonating in her mind so strongly her vision wobbled a little. Her heart was hammering like crazy and for a few moments the only things she could recognize in sight was the golden lights dancing all around her and his intense gaze. Maybe that was why she missed the motion of his hand and the next second cold water hit her right in the face, breaking her out of the trance.

Caroline blinked through the droplets of water to see Klaus laughing with his hand still immersed in the stream, "never let those arbitrary concepts hinder your perspective, love. Shallow? Deep? In your face?" He gestured towards her, laughing harder, "beauty is beauty."

Wiping her face, she couldn't help laughing together with him. But as soon as her hands left her face they rushed to gather a handful of water and flipped it at him in retaliation, "I'll tell you all about beauty in your face." She pushed another wave of water at him, laughing loudly at his dripping blonde curls. Klaus grinned through the droplets devilishly before pushing her into the stream, but Caroline was quick to latch on to his arm and he slipped into the knee-deep water right after her.

Soon they were forgetting all about their conversation, devoted in their newly-discovered game of water fight and ten minutes or so later yielded the two of them sitting back on the bank, drenched from head to toe, laughing uncontrollably.

"Great, now my elegant hair is ruined." Caroline wiggled her brows at him, trying to undo her mess of a braid, but failing miserably from the soaking wet locks.

Klaus reached over quietly, his laughter finally dying down, "let me."

Caroline turned around without a word, suddenly nervous as a deer caught in spotlight. She felt his fingers in her hair, freeing strand after strand, his motions so gentle as not to hurt her. She tilted her head to the other side, intending to hide her blush from him, but he protested in a low voice, "stay still." His hot breath burned the back of her neck and Caroline felt so hot all of a sudden despite her wet clothes.

A drop of water slowly rolled down her neck into her dress and she could hear his abrupt intake of air. "There, it's done." He quickly backed away a few inches from her, and Caroline's head remained lowered, her hands came up to wring her hair quietly.

"So…you don't think I'm shallow?" She spoke up, desperate to find a new focus other than the sense of his fingers still in her hair or his breath still on her skin.

He huffed a laugh, probably on to her tactics, "and we are back at this. No, I don't think you are shallow. On the contrary, I consider you a constant delight, down to your need for endless conversation and poorly veiled deflection."

"So you don't think I talk too much?" She ignored the deflection part.

Klaus opened his mouth to say something, but closed it on second thought, his lips curling into an indulging smile, "no, Caroline. Surprisingly I enjoy your talking more than I would have thought."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Now Caroline was genuinely intrigued by his strange wording.

Klaus hesitated for a while, his brows knitted in deep contemplation, "for a long time, I thought all wolves shared the same trait of reticence. We rely on feels rather than thoughts, taking things in rather than expressing them out loud. It made sense, given our dire need for survival." He licked his lips as if embarrassed by what he was about to say, "when I was a child I was very fond of…art. I picked up pencils and paper whereas other children just picked fights with each other. I…I guess I was ashamed of it."

Caroline saw the dark shadows in his eyes so clearly she shuddered involuntarily. And yet she also saw how wound up Klaus was, his shoulders stiff and back rigid. She guessed there was more to the story, but she wasn't about to push him further, not today at least. So she went for a lighter route instead, "no kidding! You are an artist? What do you do, paintings? Sketches?"

Klaus smiled a little at her excitement, "a bit of everything. But I haven't been doing it for several years now." He pushed the wet locks out of her face, looking her deep in the eyes, "that's one of the reasons I enjoy you really. You are so expressive with your words, conveying everything in colors. It makes my hand itch to draw."

Caroline returned his smile, leaning slightly into his hand, "then start drawing." She didn't know which was hotter, her cheek or his palm, and she didn't care at that moment, "it's part of who you are. Don't let anyone deny it, not even yourself."

His eyes widened at her words, his eyelashes quivering imperceptibly under a sheen of moisture. Slowly he leaned towards her, closer and closer, and Caroline was afraid that he would hear her frantic heartbeats. In a long, agonizing yet sweet second she felt his lips brushing the crown of her head, and his silky voice in her hair, "maybe I will."

A drop of water fell from her hair tips to her pinky, shining in the sun like a silent promise.


	3. Thinking of You Chpt 3

_Sedona, 2016_

Klaus doesn't know what is happening to him. Maybe it's the full moon, or the fact that it's one of those days when he's reminded of Caroline by accident or divine intervention and then everything around him turns to a reminder. Her scent, the color of her eyes, her habits and quirks. All the random little things coaxing his thoughts back to her-Klaus almost feels like one of those artificial intelligence things gone wrong and the only thing he can recognize and decipher is the code of Caroline.

And maybe that's why on today of all days, when his pack is waiting for him in the forest just hours from the full moon comes up, he finds himself in this nondescript little diner, drinking cheap whiskey with the waiter that he's known for all about thirty minutes, baring his heart out-more or less.

"Isn't it too early for alcohol anyway?" Klaus lifts his brows at Mason, taking another sip.

Mason snorts at that, "dude, you've got girl trouble, and that calls for a drink without judgment any time of the day."

"It's been five years. She's not a girl anymore." Klaus runs his thumb along the rim of the tumbler, picturing her matured face against his sensible mind.

"Well she's _your_ girl," Mason shrugs, taking a sip of his own, "or your alpha, whatever you say." His eyes flickers for a split second, but before Klaus notices he carries on with the chatter, "so what's your deal exactly? You said you guys met when you were both young. Did you, like, establish it later?"

"I didn't have a letter jacket to give to her if that's what you mean." Klaus chuckles over his glass, "she probably would have liked it though. Living out one of her fantasies."

Mason swishes the drink in his hand, seeming pensive, "it's a little hard to imagine though. I wouldn't have guessed…" At Klaus' look of inquiry he quickly catches himself, "I mean, this girl you were talking about sounds very American sweetheart, the bubbly perky cheerleader type, and you are just…well, British, for lack of a better term."

Klaus rolls his eyes at him, "and here I thought I was an _Aussie_." He reaches over to grab the bottle behind the counter and fills his now empty glass, "this is, of course, on the house." It isn't a question.

Mason tuts before snatching the bottle back, "who made you the boss here?"

"I did offer you a nice story and all." Klaus winks at him teasingly.

Mason gives him an incredulous look, "what is this, the Arabian Nights? And if I remember correctly that lady told the stories to save people, not bankrupt innocent bystanders." He grimaces before putting the bottle back on the shelf, "I don't have that many free drinks to serve you."

"You don't have that many lives for me to spare." Klaus deadpanned.

Mason winces at his matter-of-fact tone, "says the one who isn't even the alpha. You sure are scary for a mere beta."

"Believe me, you are lucky to deal with me rather than Caroline. She'd kill you with kindness." Klaus points a finger at him, "or her sharp tongue and one mean right hook." Or her perfect smile and melodic voice and the sight of her leaving and her memories that haunt you day and night. But he isn't about to go there.

Mason smirks knowingly, "for some reason I don't doubt that." He suddenly furrows his brows, "wait, you said her parents died when she was little right? Fighting vamps?" Seeing Klaus nod he continues his question, "then she grew up alone? Man that's tough."

Klaus shakes his head, "not exactly. The elders in our pack were responsible for training her, but one of the elders kind of took her under her wings. Practically raised Caroline as her own granddaughter." A wistful hint of smile appeared on his face, "she was one hell of a woman, Miss Sheila."

"And she was okay with you being the beta?" Mason rubs his chin, "don't take me wrong, but you were the new guy in the pack."

"She was surprisingly supportive." Klaus reminisces, looking into the amber liquid before him, "in her own ways of course. Not long after I was appointed beta Caroline had to negotiate something with another pack, so she left town with another elder for a few days, leaving me in charge. I wasn't so sure about that, still feeling out of place, so generally just acting awkward with everyone. Sheila was pissed." He chuckles, "told me to 'man up' and get on with it."

Mason laughs, "she does sound pretty badass."

"The most." Klaus raises his glass in a gesture of salute. He hadn't expected it back then but when Caroline left town five years ago, leaving him yet again in charge of the pack, indefinitely no less, it was Sheila's words he heard in his head.

So 'man up' he did.

And that was the final thing Miss Sheila taught him, even after her death. That whatever touches your soul never leaves. They grow into you, with you, from you, until the day comes when you realize that even left infinitely and utterly alone, they'll always be a part of your loneliness. And with that the loneliness becomes a strength.

A strength he can draw from till they meet again.

* * *

 _Mystic Falls, 2007_

The steady sound of charcoal scratching on paper felt so right to Klaus nowadays. Soothing. Every line ran smoothly from the tip of his fingers, depicting the world as exactly how he saw it. He could dive into the intricately managed patterns of light and shadow, letting lose without relinquishing control. It seemed almost like second nature.

He'd picked up his sketchpad shortly after he had that chat with Caroline in the woods. His first object was, without a doubt, her. He'd captured her face after their water fight, wet curls and blushing cheeks, glowing in the sunlight. Upon finishing, he was too scared to show it to her-his skills were rusty from the lack of practice. But Caroline, being Caroline, pried the drawing out of his hand before he knew it, and the smile on her face immediately elicited his urge to do another.

He had been through so many sketch books since then he'd lost count. At first the only things in them were landscape, still life, and Caroline. But over the years, other people had gradually made their appearances. Caroline's friend Bonnie, the little human boy who smiled at him behind the white fence every time he went into town, April who was always begging shyly for another travel story, pack members who drank and joked with him.

And now Miss Sheila.

He fixed the lines around her eyes a little, stopping to contemplate the whole thing. He decided the spot under her left eye needed some more shading but before he resumed his work, a hand reaching from the side beat him to it, blending the lower lines with the tip of a finger. Klaus smiled at the hand. She was getting good at this, though she always claimed she couldn't draw a stick figure to save her life.

But then again, they spent enough time together as it was. He had to rub off on her a bit.

"I already miss her." He heard her small voice from the crook of his shoulder, her breath smelling like her strawberry lip gloss and alcohol.

He held her extended hand in his while putting the finishing touches on the sketch with the other, "so do I."

"It was quick though. The doctor said she wasn't in much pain. That's good." Caroline sighed against his skin.

Klaus didn't point out that she'd already repeated that line too many times. The night Sheila passed away from heart attack, the following days when they were preparing for the funeral, earlier today at the wake. He just slowly rubbed her knuckles with his thumb, agreeing with her quietly, "yes it is."

"There was something that I didn't say at the wake." Caroline said after a while, lifting her head from his shoulder.

Klaus felt slightly disappointed at the loss of the weight, but he didn't make a sound, just closing the sketch book and turning to face her. After the funeral the whole pack gathered around, sharing memories about Sheila with each other. He noticed Caroline stopping mid-sentence one time. She covered it up quickly, and he let it slip at the time.

"I remember when I was seven…a few months before my parents got killed," Caroline pulled up her legs, hugging them in front of her chest, her eyes downcast, "my father said that I was old enough to learn the first lesson of being the future alpha." Her voice had a gravely tone to it and Klaus dreaded what she was about to say although it was all in the past.

"He wanted to take me to the woods on a full moon, to see them shift." Caroline huffed a humorless laugh, "I was terrified. I knew they were wolves by concept, but the mere thought of my mom and dad, and so many people I knew of turning into howling beasts just scared me to the bones. Also Elena and Bonnie were having a sleep-over that night."

She sucked in a deep breath, as if bracing herself for what was to come next, "I cried for hours, begging him to not do this. Dad was furious. Said I was a disappointment. Not strong enough to be an alpha."

Klaus reached out to run a comforting hand through her hair, cursing bloody insane fathers inside his head, "you were just seven. He shouldn't have asked that of you."

Caroline leaned back a little into his touch, "mom tried to talk him out of it, but he locked me in my room, ready to drag me out with them at dusk." She chuckled quietly, this time the mood lighter, "that was where Sheila came in. She heard the commotion and came straight to our house. Called my dad an idiot to his face. And when he refused to let me out, she broke the door of my room."

She looked up at him, a tiny smile breaking through, "oh, did I tell you she brought an axe with her?" Klaus laughed in response. That sounded about right. Miss Sheila had always been a tough lady with a gut made of steel.

"She hugged me and led me out of my house, all this time still holding her big-ass axe. She warned my father that if he didn't quit the crazy act she'd gather the elders and kick him out of his own pack." Caroline giggled, "for months after that whenever I had a nightmare I'd ask for Sheila. My dad was beyond annoyed."

Klaus tucked a few fallen strands of hair behind her ear, longing to see her smile without anything blocking his sight, "that's a nice story. Sheila would've been glad you remembered."

Caroline nodded before turning to the side, retrieving the remaining bottle of whiskey they left untouched, "this calls for another drink." She took a sip straight from the bottle, squinting at the burn, letting out a little sigh. She then handed the bottle to Klaus, her tongue darting out to lick her liquor-stained lips.

Klaus took the bottle absent-mindedly, tearing his gaze from her wet rosy lips, drinking down a large mouthful to quench the sudden thirst burning through him. He put the bottle down between them, leaning back on the trunk of the tree they were sitting under, "Sheila was actually the first one I'd met from the pack."

He felt Caroline leaning back alongside him, the tips of her hair tickling his neck, "yeah, I figured. She was mostly in charge then."

"I was wary of her at the first sight." Klaus thought back to Sheila's keen dark eyes. He didn't quite do them justice in his sketch. They were always sharp but understanding, two features that wasn't supposed to coexist, but balanced perfectly on her, "she seemed too calm and knowing. I couldn't figure her out."

"Ayanna was trying to make up some excuse to explain why none of those packs in Europe wanted to keep me for long." He snorted, "she wasn't doing a great job of it. I almost laughed out loud at her poor reasoning. Sheila must have noticed my expression." He shook his head, still amazed at how observant she was, "nothing escaped her eyes really. So she stopped Ayanna's charade and said, 'no need covering the real reason behind. You know it, I know it, this young man here knows it as well'."

Caroline giggled just below his ear, repeating the phrase "young man" amused. Klaus had to close his eyes briefly to suppress the beast inside him answering to the sensation, "she agreed to let me stay without another word. Later when Ayanna was gone, she made me a promise. And that was when I knew she was different."

"What promise?" Caroline looked up at him intrigued, her lips almost touching his jaw line.

Klaus swallowed hard before continuing, "she promised that no one would lay a hand on me, hurt me with words or try to kick me out of the pack under her watch." He didn't know how she'd speculated about his abusive foster father or those selfish packs, or she was just that perceptive, "she also told me that the rest was on my own."

He expected another sound of laughter from her, but Caroline was quiet. When she sat up straight to peer at him she had a pensive look on her face, "Klaus…did your foster parents…" Her eyes were suddenly frantic from what she was implying, the blue orbs watery against her pale complexion.

Klaus sighed averting his eyes. Caroline was too smart for her own good. He should have known she could well figure it out from his few words, and yet he still wasn't ready to share more than he'd let slipped, "it's all bygones now."

Probably sensing his distress, Caroline didn't respond to his dismissive answer, just putting her hand in his without further motion. He let it rest there for a minute before his own need to touch her prevailed and he slowly closed his fingers around hers, feeling the softness grounding him more firmly than the giant oak tree behind.

"She was right you know." Caroline said after a while, "you did a pretty good job yourself, fitting in and winning people over."

"Because you named me the beta." Till this day Klaus couldn't quite wrap his mind around that one, how trusting Caroline was of him when they first met, but he'd long given up on analyzing it. Some things just were. And he was strangely comforted by that mentality. "It's a little difficult for the pack to ostracize the second in command."

Caroline snorted, the corner of her lips curling up, "oh quit it. Everyone loves you and you know it."

 _What about you?_ Klaus almost asked out loud but he caught himself at the last minute, shrugging nonchalantly, "not more than they fear me. Didn't you hear the words out there? I am, quote, 'the devil bastard', embodiment of nightmare, and my body count on a single full moon can rival that of a whole pack's."

"Okay, are you now fishing compliments or what?" Caroline squinted at him, half teasing and half fed up, "cause you know damn well those rumors were concocted by our own pack to scare away potential enemies." And the result of a foolish drinking game. "And don't pretend you don't help out whenever someone's in trouble in your sight."

Klaus tried to scoff, but Caroline shoved a finger in his face, "uh-uh, no denying." She suddenly started to giggle, and Klaus glared at her in confusion, "the girls actually made a bet about it. You know, carrying a bunch of firewood and accidentally drop it a few feet from you, that kind of thing. The stone-faced knight always comes to the rescue," she sing-songed, "with a scowl, of course."

"Why have I never heard of this, love?" Klaus huffed exasperatedly.

"Well, we don't want to ruin your _image._ " Caroline wiggled her brows, "god forbid anyone knows you are such a push-over." She grinned, "Sheila must have seen right through you."

Klaus wanted to protest, but conceded at the soft look in her eyes, "that she has."

Caroline bent over, once again picking up the whiskey between them, "to Miss Sheila. The most amazing wolf ever." She toasted before drinking.

Klaus took the bottle from her, "to Miss Sheila. May her stories never fade, and her spirit stay with us." He drank from the bottle, squeezing her hand slightly.

For a few minutes they just sat there, passing the bottle back and forth, taking turns to drink from it. Eventually Caroline broke the silence, "I do feel like that, you know?" Her speech was slower than usual due to the alcohol she just consumed, "like she's still with us. She used to tell me about the other side. Said my parents were watching over me from there."

"It's possible." Klaus mused, "she was too protective to leave us unattended."

Suddenly Caroline pushed herself into his arms, her head reclaiming its place on his shoulder, "do you ever feel like we've already lost so much? My parents died, yours did too. Bonnie's parents left her for god knows what. Not to mention those stupid packs who turned their backs on you, or your foster families. Shame on them!" She exclaimed a bit too profusely, clearly worked up by the whiskey, "it's like everything, everyone…just leaves. Vanishes. Whoosh."

Her lips puckered making the sound and Klaus felt his head swoon at the sight. Caroline on the other hand was still lost in her thought, "but that's not gonna be the case with us."

"No it's not." The words flew out of his mouth all too quickly, and yet the second he registered what he'd uttered he knew it was the truth. For all that he'd lost or perhaps never had in the first place he hoped desperately that Caroline wouldn't be one of them. But more importantly, he would ensure Caroline never suffered from a loss ever again if he could help it, and even if he couldn't no way in hell would that loss be himself.

Caroline hummed softly, seemingly satisfied with his conviction, "yeah, we are going to be together forever." She pointed a finger to his chest, then to herself, "you, and me. Because I'm your alpha, and you are my beta."

Klaus drew back at those familiar words as if burned. He looked up into Caroline's perplexed eyes, not able to keep the anger from his subdued voice, "is that all I am to you?"

"What?" Caroline stared at him stunned, her brows furrowed, "what are you talking about?"

Klaus breathed in deeply, the overabundant oxygen making him dizzy for a split second before fueling the flames already running rampant inside him. He knew this was hardly the right time or circumstance for this conversation, but his chest felt like exploding from all the secrets he'd been holding in, "I'm talking about the fact that you see me as nothing more than your beta, your right hand guy."

The puzzled look on Caroline's face slowly morphed into one mixed with hurt and fury, "and what's so wrong about that? I trust you with all my heart. You are one of the most important people to me and I can't imagine my life without you."

Klaus stood up abruptly and started pacing, his jaw clenched painfully. He longed to pull Caroline into his arms till they melt as one as much as he wanted to push her to the other end of the world, both notions sending unbearable dread through his chaos of a mind. His agitation channeled into cold sarcasm instead, "that was beautiful, sweetheart. We both know how good you are with words and manipulation."

"Don't you sweetheart me!" Caroline pushed herself up from the ground, standing right in front of him, her face flushed from rage, "you know what Klaus? You suck! You accuse me of manipulating you with words when you are the one beating around the bush, throwing stupid nicknames just to prove you can be hurtful."

Klaus winced at that, knowing she had a point. But the myriads of emotions boiling in his chest were raising drastic waves, and he was soon consumed with another fit of rage at the assault, "stop being so righteous, _love_ , it's a bit annoying to be honest. After all you are just stringing me along as your loyal lap dog."

Caroline opened her mouth but nothing came out. She suddenly turned to the side, probably blinking back tears and Klaus' heart constricted at the sight of her quivering chin. He was about to say something, anything to control the damage when she turned back, her eyes now blazing blue flames, "so we are sinking to _dog_ jokes now? That's low even for you Klaus." She stepped up until they were nose to nose, her breath searing his skin, "say what you want straight out or don't say it at all."

He turned away from her, putting some distance between them. But he could still hear her, every sweet breath, every swish of the softest hair and every sputter of her flowery dress in the passing breeze, all the different sensations weighing heavily on his mind and he felt so tired and loss in that moment, an inexplicable sadness gripping his heart. When he opened his mouth again his voice was low and coarse, "I can't do this anymore."

"Do what? I don't understand." Her hand touched his elbow tentatively, only to be shaken away ruthlessly.

Klaus turned back swiftly towering over her, his fists clenched as he growled, "false camaraderie. Faked intimacy. This pathetic little alpha-beta game of yours."

Caroline blinked furiously as if she'd just been slapped, her words trembling along with her whole body, "this is _not_ a game."

"Then what do you propose we call it, love?" Klaus' lips twitched into a cruel smirk, his voice raising, "whatever it is I don't want anything to do with it. I don't want your company. I don't want your pity. I don't want you playing house with me like a vapid human girl. We are wolves Caroline. We don't need to glue ourselves to anything insignificant for the sole purpose of fending off loneliness, which I'm pretty sure we are doing all this time, pretending to be special to each other when we clearly are not!"

His chest heaved from the rant, but he felt cold from deep within. He carefully rid his face of all expressions, ready for her to snap and leave him at any minute. Yet Caroline was never one to stick to his expectations. She studied him silently for a few seconds, her face as blank as his. And then slowly, the corners of her lips turned up infinitesimally, hinting the beginning of a smile.

And what a smile it was.

Just one look into her bright, gentle eyes Klaus found his resolve chipping away. He detected something different in her, but she spoke up before he could figure it out, "I thought I told you to be straightforward." She gave him a reproachful look with her _smiling_ eyes and Klaus felt slightly chagrined, but not more than the relief flooding him.

"But never mind. I'll take over from here." She reached up to cup his cheeks in her palms, "you were right about one thing. We are wolves. We are cursed by nature, slaves of the moon. We are bound to live a bumpy life with perpetual suffering and intervals of happiness. We are sad creatures who know darkness before light, pain before joy, violence before kindness." She inched closer to him, their eyelashes almost brushing, "so we don't mistake what is the most precious to us. And when we find it," her eyes locked with his, "we never let go."

And then her lips were on his.

The kiss started out light and gentle, like she was reacquainting with him, until their warmth blended, their shapes fitted and their breaths came in sync. Caroline started to nibble on his lower lip, and that was all the sign Klaus needed. He took her lips with more force, worshiping every inch of the velvety flesh. He felt her hot fingers caressing his cheekbone, with so much passion and care as if she was holding his heart and Klaus couldn't help but sink his own fingers into her hair, pulling her closer still.

After a few moments Caroline broke away just a tiny crack. She whispered against their still touching lips, each word another eager and confirming kiss, "I'm your alpha," she whispered curtly, her eyes saying all the things that held too much weight to be uttered out loud, "and you are my beta."

A rush of desire and possession filled Klaus' heart. Once again he dived into her, his tongue brushing her lips questioningly through the frenzy. She opened her mouth almost immediately and Klaus sighed while he devoured her, all the torturing yearn and dread finally soothed, giving way to a pure fire of longing. He held her head with one hand while the other slipped down to her back, feeling the beautiful vibration when she moaned deeply.

It felt like forever before they finally separated, both out of breath. Caroline was still staring at him with slightly watery eyes, her smile now contented and teasing. Klaus held her against his chest, reveling in the whole _Caroline_ feel and smiled back, "that was quite a speech, sweetheart."

"I've been told I'm good with words." She poked one of his dimples as punishment.

"I'll revise that statement." Klaus tilted his head, "you are just generally good with your tongue."

"Really?" She batted her eyelashes at him, all smug and seductive, "then we have to put it to good use."

"Gladly." He laughed into the inviting lips in front of him, and the mesmerizing scent of Caroline that he would never let go.


	4. Thinking of You Chpt 4

_Sedona, 2016_

Caroline is on another order of fries-the ones that came with her burger long since finished. She picks one up, waving it at Mason, "you see? This is exactly the down side of talking to people. You can't stop gorging." She pops it into her mouth, making a face.

Mason rolls his eyes, "well you can, but you won't. Honestly I don't understand you girls and your obsession with snacks. You need something to go with the conversation? You've got booze for that."

"Admit it, guys just think they look super cool when they are drinking." Caroline smirks, "you'd all be taking selfies with a glass of whiskey in hand if it doesn't clash with _your image_." She can't help it. She has to do the bunny-ears quotation mark with her hands.

Mason laughs at her gesture, clearly amused, "you've got us all pegged, huh, wolf girl?"

"Yep, pretty much." She wiggles her brows smugly, "after all I've got years of practice." Her eyes dims at that, stuffing another fry in her mouth without continuing.

Fortunately Mason's been running the diner for a long time now. He knows when to change the subject, "so…you are going into the forest later?" He looks out at the late morning sun, "I heard there's a pack around."

Caroline shrugs, "well I'll make sure to steer clear out of their way. But the Coconino's big enough." She turns to Mason curiously, "what about you? Ever turned in the wilderness?"

"Several times over the years." He sounds less than enthusiastic, "I don't think that's really the thing for me though." He stops a minute to gather his thoughts, his face grim, "it's too…raw. And tempting. It feels so easy to just give in to it. They were right about this being a curse."

"I know what you mean. I used to feel the same way." Caroline smiles with nostalgia, "When I was little, my parents and other wolves would go deep into the woods at sunset every full moon, leaving the ones who hadn't triggered the curse to look after us kids. I remember when the night fell we'd gather around, playing games or reading stories. And then there came the howling. All night long it never stopped."

"Must be pretty scary." Mason mused.

Caroline shook her head, "not really. I wasn't so much scared of the howling itself as I was of the fact that I was drawn to it. It almost felt like every sound I heard was calling for me. I had this notion that I wasn't supposed to connect to it, you know? Because it was the complete opposite of Disney princesses and ball gowns and singing to innocent little animals, which apparently, I enjoyed immensely." She shared a laugh with Mason.

"So I was scared of myself when sometimes I just wanted to jump out of bed and join them in the woods. Seemed pure evil." Caroline grimaced, "it didn't help when I later learned about the bone breaking thing."

Mason gives an exaggerated shudder, "yeah that one's a bitch."

"Tell me about it." Over the years the shifting sped up and her pain threshold got higher, but it still sucked no matter what, "but after a while I got used to it."

"And that's when the fun kicked in?" Mason speculates with a raised brow.

"Sure I had fun." Caroline thought about all the times she turned in different forests around the world, the distinct feeling of earth under her paws from soft blankets of pine needles to crunchy layer of oak leaves; of air against her fur from brisk and icy to moist and fruity. "But it's more than the fun. It's liberating, owning up to what you really are and enjoying it."

"That makes sense…I guess." Mason draws, not quite convinced but definitely intrigued by her cheery look.

"And it kicked in about five minutes after I completed my first transition." Caroline grins.

"Now you are just showing off." Mason snorts, before something comes to his mind, "wait, when did you trigger you curse? You look really young to have been doing this for years."

Caroline's expression sobers instantly, "when I was seventeen. It's been long enough."

Unlike so many other wolves who triggered the curse by accident, hers was intended-well planned even. She had to be able to shift in order to fully lead her pack, and that was something she would never let herself chicken out of. No matter how conflicted she may have been about the inevitable task.

Klaus was so subdued those days, staring at her with troubled eyes whenever he thought she wasn't looking, as if he was the one about to go through the ordeal. And maybe he was-he always seemed to take her pain harder than herself.

He didn't say anything about her choice of victim. A middle-aged guy, alcoholic, beat his child every time he was wasted. Caroline did the whole investigation-spied around his house for months. And she would always remember Klaus' eyes when she revealed her decision to him. Those hollows where all the pain, rage, shame and loss were trapped under thin ice, threatening to break lose in a roar of fire.

And yet he hadn't uttered a single word. Just helped her bury the body, stood by her through the ritual, and led her to a secluded cave afterwards.

To this day Caroline looks back at those times and sees him as a firm lighthouse. In retrospect there was no doubt she could have trudged through the tumultuous darkness all by herself. But he made sure she believed in her own strength even then.

"So you enjoyed it? Even the first time?" Mason's voice brings her out of her memories, "anything to do with your beta?"

A smile blooms in Caroline's eyes so tenderly, "you have no idea."

He also made sure she embraced the darkness as the wolves that they both were.

* * *

 _Mystic Falls, 2009_

It smelled clean. The thought came to Caroline as she sat on the ground, examining the small dark cave. She'd expected a suffocating mixture of sweat and fur and even blood, but the only thing she could detect was old leaves and a hint of water-which was how she knew they were near the falls.

As if reading her mind, Klaus spoke up from beside her, "no one's been here except me. I discovered it a few years ago." He waved to the entrance, "the others are probably in the vicinity. But we don't necessarily shift together, you know. It can be somewhat…private."

Caroline huffed a laugh, "yeah, I really don't need to see Jenna or Miranda naked. Or John." She made a face, "ew."

"Ew's about right." Klaus smirked, but it didn't reach his eyes.

Caroline sighed, "it's gonna be okay, Klaus. Everyone's been through this. Well, almost everyone." She reached for his hand and squeezed gently, a gestured they'd shared thousands of times, "and they all came out fine. So will I."

Klaus brought her hand to his mouth and kissed her knuckles, "of course. You are one of the strongest people I've met, sweetheart. You'll turn into a ravishing wolf for sure."

"Aw, you and your sweet talk." Caroline batted her eyelashes at him coquettishly, trying to lighten the mood. Klaus smiled shaking his head, pulling her into his arms and held her close. Caroline inhaled deeply, his familiar woodsy scent calming her nerves. "Any minute now." She whispered, aiming to sound cheery, but the slight tremor at the end of the sentence kind of ruined the effort.

Klaus' hand went up into her hair, stroking in a steady rhythm, "yes, it will start soon. Given this is your first time, it may take longer to complete the transition. But don't worry, I'll be here the whole time."

"Does it hurt very badly?" Caroline couldn't stop the stupid question from rolling off of her tongue.

Klaus hesitated for a minute, "yes." His voice was low, but the way he said it somehow made the answer bearable. That was one of the things Caroline loved about him. He never sugarcoated things. And a straight answer prepared you best for the worst. That she could handle.

"Okay." She breathed into his shirt, closing her eyes briefly. After a few minutes she suddenly gave a humorless laugh, the sound almost eerie in the dark. She could feel his questioning eyes on her, but she remained leaning on his shoulder, "nothing. I just feel that…I kind of deserve it. The pain."

Klaus sucked in a breath, sounding appalled, "how could you possibly think that?"

"I committed homicide. I should be in jail." She cut off whatever he wanted to say to excuse her with a steely voice, "I don't regret it. I did what I needed to do for the pack and that guy was a monster. But I stilled killed him." She bit her lower lip hard enough to draw blood, "so in a way, the pain I'm about to endure is pretty justified."

The cave fell into a heavy silence, the tension weighing on both of them until Klaus tilted her chin up, covering her lips with his. He gently licked the spot she'd bitten into before delving into her, the taste of blood tainting their mouths and she just wanted it to melt away so she could taste exactly him and nothing else. So she sucked harder, brushing her tongue everywhere she could reach, and little by little it was really just him on her tongue, all flesh and heart and soul.

When they finally broke apart, Klaus lingered a breath away a moment longer, murmuring against her lips, "you are too stubborn for your own good, sweetheart." He gave her another affectionate peck on the lips before resuming his original posture, leaning against the wall of the cave.

Caroline looked up at him smiling teasingly, "well that's why you like me."

"Someone's full of themselves tonight." Klaus peered at her, his own lips curling into a smirk.

Caroline shrugged, "every bone in my body is going to snap in the next hour or so. At least I'm going down feeling good about myself."

Klaus sighed again, his face now somber, "you don't have to remind me, love."

Caroline was quiet for a while, knowing nothing would ease his over-protective mind. It was sweet and made her warm inside but she was under enough pressure as it was, she didn't need the extra spotlight. So she summoned up her courage and asked the question that had been hovering in her mind these past days, "Klaus…you never told me how you triggered your curse."

When he didn't reply immediately, she carefully turned to him to study his expression. He was facing the entrance of the cave, the moonlight shedding over his features like a silver veil, and his eyes had a glassy look in them. He seemed so isolated in his own silent despair that for a moment Caroline felt she was starting to shift-the pain piercing through her took her breath away.

"I was fourteen." His voice was barely audible, but it still startled her, "I was staying with my foster family at the time-the one that kept me for the longest. I had a little brother, Henrik." His lips twitched into a heartbreaking tiny curl, "he was the only good thing in my memory of that time. We used to be inseparable."

Having a vague idea of where this was going, Caroline slowly circled her arms around his waist and rested her head against his stiff back, hugging him from behind. Klaus jerked in surprise, but took her hands in his shortly after, continuing his story, "on one full moon we sneaked out at night when all the adults were in the woods. Henrik wanted to see them shift. Unfortunately we ran into a bloody vampire. I had no idea what he was doing roaming the forest on a full moon with wolves all around, but he was there, and he spotted us immediately."

Caroline shuddered, sensing the tragic turn, but Klaus was still as stone, "we didn't have a chance to flee. He was too quick. The only thing I managed do was shoving Henrik to the side. The vampire fed on me, but before he could finish an elder wolf jumped out and bit him. Saved my life."

"What about…Henrik?" Caroline was almost too afraid to ask.

"I…shoved him too hard. He fell off a slope and hit his head on a rock." His voice sounded close to a whimper, like the faint gurgle from someone who had fallen into freezing water on a winter night, sealed under layers and layers of ice, "he didn't make it."

Caroline closed her eyes, not able to utter a word. Anything felt insipid and trivial in the face of this. The omnipresent web of life that no one could escape. It didn't swallow you-that was death's job. It only poisoned and maimed and weakened, leaving you struggling to your last breath. Incomplete, impotent, inept, but struggling.

So she just held him with all her strength till their bones dug into each other, hard enough to leave lasting bruises.

"You might be right about it, Caroline." She heard Klaus choke out, "we deserve the pain."

"Then we hold on. We hold on, and we don't lose ourselves to it." She intertwined their fingers and this time Klaus reacted, pressing his fingers into her hand like he was seeking for something, and Caroline didn't hesitate to give it to him, "we keep in mind what we were trying to protect and we'll pull through." The pain, the guilt, everything. It would always be there, but it would not defeat them.

They stayed in that position until the first crack of her bone.

It was in her left upper arm. Caroline cried out in surprise, cradling it with her right one, but the next second that one started to break as well. Klaus was instantly crouching down across from her, watching her with concerned eyes, "shh, it's alright love. It's about time."

Caroline groaned at another set of pain blowing up inside her. This time it was her ribs. One by one they snapped with abandon like beans shooting out of the pod. Caroline would have laughed at the ridiculous notion if not for the insane amount of pain. She squeezed her eyes shut, her breath broken just like her bones, "all the preparation I've done in my mind and…I still didn't expect…this."

Klaus reached out to stroke her sweaty forehead, "it can be overwhelming. Try not to talk too much. Save some strength." Caroline could detect the imperceptible tremor in his calm voice, "this could take a while."

She bit back a scream at her fingers breaking, one joint after another, "I didn't realize…there are so many bones in me." Uncontrollable tears were streaming down her cheeks along with big drops of sweat and Caroline didn't even have the heart to feel ashamed about it.

But Klaus was there to wipe it away gently, "sadly you are all bones sweetheart. Tough to a fault." Suddenly he drew back with a jerk, a low grunt grazing out of his throat. It dawned on Caroline then that his transition was starting as well.

Apparently used to the suffering, Klaus was quiet about it. His breathing was heavier and more erratic, but other than the initial grunt out of surprise, he didn't make a single sound. Calmed by his actions Caroline focused back on her own transition. The pain was still a bitch, attacking her like never ending tides from all the places in her body that she hadn't imagined possible. But now that she was expecting it the process became less frightening.

Yet something seemed odd and Caroline couldn't put her already broken finger on it. After about half an hour (or maybe longer? She had lost track of time) she finally figured out what was wrong. Klaus shouldn't be still shifting. He was older and had been doing this for six years, according to what she was told it would be faster for him, which meant he should have finished his transition by now.

"Are you…suppressing it?" Caroline managed to croak out, "Klaus-" She was interrupted by her thigh bone breaking, the pain sent her bending in half, sick to her stomach.

"Don't worry about me, love." Klaus' voice cut through her foggy mind, "focus on your breathing."

"But…" This time she heard it. The distinct crack sound coming from his side, closely following her own. Klaus was, indeed, slowing down his own transition to match the agonizing speed of hers.

"I said I'd be with you the whole time." He breathed out.

Caroline willed her eyes open in the torturing haze, and she was instantly met with Klaus' blue orbs. She wondered for a second what color they would be when he turned into a wolf. Would they still be this intense and penetrating like torches in the dark, or even more so. The thought felt like a balm on her hurting body, cushioning the next brutal blow when her spine began to snap.

In the sound of his mirroring crack, she whispered, "too stubborn for your own good." And she heard his labored chuckle just inches away.

It felt like hours. There were a few times when the pain was so intense that Caroline saw white in her sight, and she almost mistook those for the light of dawn. But as long as it lasted the pain was gone in a blink. All of a sudden she heard an unhuman growl in the cave. Startled she looked down, only to see two greyish white paws.

 _Her_ paws.

Another growl echoed hers, causing Caroline to look up. Before her eyes at the entrance of the cave, bathed in silver moonlight was the most beautiful wolf she'd ever seen. He was huge, with dark grey furs akin to black, and just a hint of brownish gold around the top of his head. His eyes were glowing in the dark, fixed on her like flickering flints.

So they were _golden_. She mused to herself.

Wolf Klaus huffed a breath, drawing back her attention, then turned to the outside with a slight shake of his head. Caroline could swear there was a hint of smile in his eyes, but he was gone in an instant, leaving a brush of wind in his wake.

Caroline snorted at his back unamused. He was such a show-off. She tentatively took a step forward, amazed at how quiet she was, the moist earth in the cave touching her paws softly. A surge of eagerness rushed through her and before she realized she sprinted out of the cave after Klaus like an arrow.

This was supposed to be a trapping curse but Caroline had never felt so free. Everything was fresh and vibrant, the wind combing through her furs swiftly, making a whistling sound in her ears like horns announcing the embarking of ships, boosting her adrenaline until she was high on clouds. She knew she was mixing metaphors in her head but she didn't care. She was running on the ground, above the waters and in the sky, with each step feeling more and more powerful, fearless, invincible.

She caught sight of the dark grey wolf, now just a few feet ahead of her, and with a cheerful bark she sped up to pounce on him. They ended up on the ground with Caroline pinning him under her paws. She smugly bit his ear without much force, swinging her snout left and right slightly for effect. But Klaus quickly rolled them over with a grumble, now stepping on her chest for a change.

Caroline wasn't about to go down without a fight. She threw him off of her with all her strength, and without a pause rushed towards him again, this time going for his throat. Klaus evaded her attack in a smooth move, bumping her in the side to throw her off balance. She bared her teeth, using the momentum to bite him in the leg, but Klaus saw through her intentions and pawed her in the face instead.

They sparred playfully for a while longer, until Klaus being stronger and more experienced, once again threw Caroline on her back and hovered over her triumphantly. The predatory look in his golden eyes shifted to something else, equally dangerous but more searing, his pupils dilated with desire. Slowly he lowered his head and licked her on the corner of her snout with his rough tongue.

Caroline couldn't believe the soft whiny sound came from her own mouth.

Klaus huffed above her, the sound almost feeling like a laugh to her ears. With his hot breath in her neck she couldn't help but lick him back, his unique scent sweet and arousing on her tongue. He closed his eyes and reveled in the sensation for a few moments before releasing her.

Caroline jumped up expectantly, eager to run and roam and chase something into the woods. But to her surprise Klaus stayed still beside her, not making a move. At her curious stare he turned his face slightly up to the sky, closing his eyes once again and sniffed. He looked so relaxed and contented, his left front paw scratching the ground in excitement. Caroline skeptically followed his lead, closing her eyes and sniffing.

And it hit her.

Innumerable scents floating in the wind flooded her heightened senses all at once. All the creatures in the woods, near and far, present and past, all their traces lingering in the wind like millions of signals waiting to be deciphered. There were as many of them as there were stars in the sky, and their smells, like the starlight, traveled through the infinity of time and space, reaching her with silent earnest, twinkling, burning, whispering.

And then there was him.

His warm, steady, comforting scent surrounding her, like the canvas of a night sky to the myriads of stars.

She opened her eyes to find him staring at her, seeming bewitched. She laughed inside-it was kind of weird that wolves couldn't really laugh out-and inched closer to him. Klaus held still as if in a trance, or just in anticipation, and when their noses finally touched she sniffed _him_. The smell filled her senses, making everything else fade away except a heady bliss.

The unmistakable hint of smile returned to his eyes as Klaus sniffed back. It became almost like a game, where they mirrored each other's action, no questions asked. If Caroline were still in her human form she'd no doubt start to giggle, but in this case she just nudged Klaus lightly and jumped a step away, her eyes challenging.

When she rushed out towards the falls she heard him following without missing a beat.

The wind became moister as she ran, her furs heavier, but her steps still lithe and swift. The way her bones and muscles collaborated in perfect synchronization made her want to cry out in pleasure. She felt she could run like this forever-as long as she could sense him with her without even a side glance.

When they neared the pool under the falls a strange scent captured her attention. Sweet and tempting. The scent of prey. Every fiber of her being livened up in excitement, silently buzzing for the chase. She slowed down to a halt, crouching down quietly in the shrubs, her body tense like a wound-up spring.

It was a herd of white-tailed deer, resting on the shore. Caroline looked sideways to see Klaus just a few inches behind, also in attacking position, nodding at her. He was letting her take the lead.

Caroline turned back facing the herd, taking a deep breath before shooting out of the shrub. A stag heard them almost immediately, jumping up in a frantic move and blew to the rest of the herd. The low warning sound sent the herd into action. One by one they galloped away to the far end of the shore, their white tails raising like a crowd of sails.

The sound of the stampede was foreign to Caroline. Sure she'd seen them on television, but the real life version of a herd of deer fleeing was completely another thing. Their hooves pounded on the ground like thunder, the vibration echoing on her fast-beating heart. She could almost taste their fear on her tongue, and it was such an addictive taste that she couldn't help but craved more.

So she ran faster. Racing with the herd, with the wind, with herself. But she could still sense Klaus right behind her, every step on the way.

Eventually she spotted a young stag at the end of the thinning line, his antlers without much branching, clearly not strong enough to keep up with the herd. She took a few quick steps and jumped, landing half on top of his back. The stag soon lost his balance and stumbled, trying desperately to throw Caroline off but Klaus was flanking him on the other side, giving another strong push.

The stag fell to the ground and Caroline pinned him down hard, her snout at the side of his throat. He was still struggling and she could feel the blood rushing just under his skin, with each pulse the smell radiating off of him in waves. She reveled in the amazing feel for a minute, then abruptly jumped back.

Startled the stag stumbled up whimpering, then galloping off unsteadily.

She turned back and came face to face with Klaus. He seemed…teasing with his head slightly tilted to the side-that is if a wolf could actually look teasing. But this was Klaus. He could pull off pretty much anything, even in his wolf form.

Caroline could tell he was not even a bit surprised she let the stag go-she enjoyed the hunt enough. She didn't need the kill, although it was in her nature to want it. But Caroline had never been one to just succumb to nature. She was wolf and she was human, and yet first and foremost she'd be _Caroline_.

She tilted her head to the side proudly, mirroring Klaus' gesture, resuming their little game. But what Klaus did next took her aback. Something he rarely did as her beta. He drew back his right leg in a slow motion, and bowed to her.

All thoughts left Caroline's mind. The only thing left in dominance was a primal urge, and this time Caroline complied. She raised her head to the moon, the dark curse they couldn't shake, the beautiful pull they wouldn't renounce. And for the first time in her life, she howled.

Once again right by her side, there was Klaus, howling with her in a code that only they had the key to.


	5. Thinking of You Chpt 5

_Sedona, 2016_

"Iced water? Really?" Klaus swishes the glass in his hand, the ice cubes clanking the walls making a brisk sound.

"No matter what you say, dude, I'm not serving you alcohol anymore." Mason shrugs, "at this rate you'd be drunk before late afternoon," he lowers his voice, "and we so don't need a drunken wolf running around terrorizing this town. Plus you are driving."

Klaus snorts at that, but takes a sip at the water nonetheless, "I'll have you know my capacity for liquor is quite impressive. It's a decent substitute for anesthesia."

Discreet as they managed to keep, the pack still got into their fair share of battles during the years. It's not always a wise choice to just pop into the local hospital with bloody clothes and massive wounds on your body. Fortunately for them, werewolves heal faster than normal human and their tolerance for pain is significantly higher. So when it comes to the inevitable, several nights of good sleep and plenty of alcohol would do the trick just fine.

"Do you guys fight a lot?" Mason asks a bit concerned, "I used to run with a pack for some time and it was really just living like recluses in deep mountains."

Klaus shakes his head, "not particularly. But our pack is a fairly old one." Sneering, he twirls the glass in his hand, "and generations of enemies don't just vanish into thin air, do they? It doesn't help that we are still growing and like it or not this kind of power draws attention."

"What kind of enemies? Humans? Witches? Or those damned blood suckers?" Mason looks genuinely curious, "I'm pretty out of the loop. Almost spent my whole life here."

Klaus huffs a laugh, "you know how humans are. They only see what they believe and nowadays they hardly believe anything. More often than not the ones we run into just think we are a bunch of crazy hippies on a spiritual trip or something. Works fine with us."

Mason laughs out loud, "oh I can so imagine that happening."

Klaus shrugs in humor and continues, "and witches aren't so bad. They are sketchy for sure," he should know-if he isn't mistaken Ayanna is one, though she tried to hide it from him, "but they don't care much about wolves. Usually we just go our separate ways." He sets his glass on the counter, his face now grim, "it's the vampires that are really annoying."

"I never liked vampires." Mason makes a disgusted face, "although to be fair I haven't met that many. For a bunch of night creatures they blend in surprisingly well. But the ones I've encountered are not so pleasant to be with. Think they are superior or something. I mean, come on, you are dead. How superior can that be?"

"It's not the attitude that repels me." Klaus grins darkly, "with proper means anyone can drop their attitude, sooner or later." He ignores Mason's face that clearly says "you are being scary again", going on with his speech, "but vampires are fickle. They can never be trusted." He takes a sip of his water, chewing one of the ice chips with an ominous crunch.

"You look like you are speaking from experience." Mason watches him closely, as if deep in thought.

Klaus ponders for a while. It was a long time ago, but whenever he thought about it a cold rage still crept into his chest. "There was this vampire from Mystic Falls, Damon Salvatore." He spits the name out in disdain, "about fifty years ago our pack got into a fight with him. Turned out pretty bad for both sides. So eventually they agreed on a truce. Damon left town soon after-the humans were starting to get suspicious."

"I'm guessing he didn't abide by the agreement?"

Klaus sneers, "the minute he came back he decided to pick on our pack."

He still remembered those first days when Damon appeared out of the blue. When they didn't have any idea it was him. After one full moon they started to lose pack members. Every night there would be one of them going missing, and the next morning they'd find the corpse deserted in the woods, drained of blood. It was more like a sick game than a revenge, one they were dragged into blindfolded and defenseless.

The whole pack was shrouded in a fog of horror. Not knowing who would be the next, not knowing what they could do to stop it.

It was Caroline who found out about the identity of the murderer. Klaus hadn't known that she had befriended one of the vampire hunting council (a lot of them weren't aware of the council in the first place) in town but that connection got them the information they needed. Their old enemy from half a century ago came back and apparently had gone back on his own words.

"So what happened then?" Mason asks with a somber expression, probably sensing the direction this is going.

Wolves rarely hold grudges. They seek revenge on the spot, regardless of the price.

Klaus' voice is devoid of emotions, "I bit him on the next full moon."

"You? As in, alone?" Mason stares at him in shock, "and your _alpha_ was okay with that?"

Klaus raises one eyebrow, slightly surprised that Mason knows his alpha that well just from their fairly short conversation. But Caroline seems to leave that much of an impression on people. "She wouldn't be Caroline if she'd just accepted." He fingers the rim of his glass, a small smile curling up the corners of his lips like a tiny ripple in still water, quietly spelling out something hidden deep beneath, "but we found our own ways of working things out."

They always did.

* * *

 _Mystic Falls, 2010_

Klaus woke up with his body hurting all over. It wasn't just the dull ache of bones stitching back together after a full moon, which he would recognize even in a state of stupor-it felt almost like a safe blanket to him these days, signaling the end of another round of torture. But this time there was something different, burning sensations on his arms, legs and chest.

And with that came the memories of last night. He mentally grinned recalling Damon's face when he bit into his shoulder, cold fear snaking into his features ruining the ever-so-taunting façade. It was well worth the fierce battle he'd gone through and the few wounds he now bore.

At least he came out alive. Couldn't say the same about his adversary.

He slowly opened his eyes, pushing the covering sheet aside to examine himself. There were some bruises and scratches on his limbs, probably from when Damon threw him into his furniture, nothing serious. The only worrisome wound was the big gash across his chest and the deep hole into his side at the end of it-the asshole had sliced him with his fire poker, damn him-but it was already closed.

"Welcome back to the land of the living." A cold voice sounded quietly from his right side.

Only then did Klaus realize he wasn't alone in the room. Turning to the direction of the voice he found Caroline standing at the window with her back to him.

"Nice job getting yourself all bruised and battered by the way. Very fatal-looking. Really earns you the sympathy points." Her arms were crossed in front of her chest like they always did when she was angry, but her fingers curled around her torso tightly as if holding herself, her knuckles dead-white.

Klaus sighed, trying to sit up, but hissed at the stab of pain in his side.

"Stay right there. If you dare move a finger I swear I'll wolfsbane you till you are literally putty in my hands." She finally turned around to face him. Despite the hostile tone and the cold expression she just looked tired, her face pale and hair a mess. "After all that's what you did to me."

"Love, I'm really sorry but I did it for-" Klaus rushed to explain, but Caroline cut him off with a single look.

"I know why you did it." She said quietly, her voice reminding Klaus of snow cliffs before an avalanche, silent and still like some vacuum space where sounds didn't travel, with cataclysmal energies boiling just beneath the surface, "for my protection. For the safety of the pack. For the perfection of your plan. I get it." she smirked humorlessly, "just like you knew I would shut your little plan to hell if I had a say in it. I would be worried sick for you. I would feel betrayed and untrusted and helpless."

The dim greyish light casting from the window outlined her face, and for the first time in so long Klaus felt chilled to the bones. He expected shouting and finger-pointing and foot-stomping, which he all deserved, but not this icy rage and…bitter sadness.

"We do know each other well, don't we?" Caroline huffed, pacing close to him, "but in spite of everything you knew, you still _chose_ to do it." Her voice cracked a little, but she quickly recovered, not ready to forsake her mask just yet, "what were you thinking, Klaus? What were you thinking when you left me unconscious in transition and went on your suicide mission?"

Klaus stuttered a little, "well I…wouldn't exactly call it suicide sweetheart. It was a full moon. I had a fairly big advantage on him."

Caroline was now at the side of his bed. She looked down at him with fire in her eyes, her voice finally raising, "I found you at the side of the road, no more than half a mile from his house, bleeding like crazy and completely out of it." She threw her hands into the air, "what if he followed you? What if some human caught you in your wolf form? What if no one found you?"

"I knew you'd come for me as soon as the wolfsbane wore off." He never doubted it.

Caroline scoffed at him, "so _after_ your stupid martyr act you trusted me? Well too little and too late." she turned to look outside the window, her hands balled into fists, "and plus, what if I didn't get there in time? It's going to snow. You could die from the loss of blood and cold weather. All while I waited to get rid of the wolfsbane that _you_ put in my system!"

Klaus felt his own frustration rising. Her anger provoked him, but her hidden fear and desperation agitated him more. He shot back defiantly, "a shot of wolfsbane is better than a hand ripping out your heart, love. If I had allowed you to come with me as you initially planned the one lying here or even dying could have been you!"

" _Allowed_ me?" Caroline exclaimed, her brows almost shot into her hairline, "I'm sorry I don't remember asking your permission to work with you as a team. I don't need _your_ permission to fulfill my duty to the pack, to protect the people I love or to _be_ there when my jerk of a boyfriend is facing grave danger!"

"If it comes to your safety then damn right you don't have my permission!" Klaus propped himself up with both arms, too livid to care about the stretching pain, "you are not _allowed_ to die, Caroline. Not under my watch."

She inhaled deeply, her eyes flickering with blinding light like hot coals, "it's all about you, isn't it? You can take away my choices, undermine my strength, stab me in the fucking back all for the peace of your mind. Avoiding at all cost the faint little chance that you should be burdened with guilt. You are so afraid of losing the one person in this world that you just can't lose." She inched even closer, her eyes suddenly brimming with tears, "well guess what? So do I!"

"You are blowing this out of proportion, sweetheart." Klaus restrained his anger at the sight of her watery eyes, a sharp pain piercing through his raging heart, "I'm alright, don't you see?"

She pointed a shaking finger at his chest, "you call this alright? Imagine all…these," she gestured at his injuries, "on me, and tell me it's not a big deal."

Klaus clenched his jaw, the image she just put in his head burning like acid. Even the thought of these wretched wounds marring her skin, of her suffering more than her monthly ordeal hurt him beyond repair. But he refused to back down from their confrontation, not when the root of which was to prevent her from ever landing in this kind of situation, "one of us had to do it. You know we couldn't risk him discovering our ambush by bringing the pack."

"And you conveniently ignored my suggestion that we go together." Her lips were pressed into a thin line, a clear sign she wouldn't just let him get away with it.

"It was too dangerous." He closed his eyes briefly, somehow getting more aggravated at how the reason sounded feeble even in his own ears. But he had to draw the line somewhere.

As if reading his thoughts, Caroline shook her head in frustration, her nerves wearing thin with each second of argument, "how many times do I have to repeat that you don't get to decide _for_ me? I have never pulled ranking with you before. I didn't ask you to defer to me or to obey everything I said. All I need is for you to trust me and respect me, the same way I treat you. But if you are too conceited or just too thick to understand this then let me spell it out for you," she bent down till they were face to face, her eyes blazing as she breathed each word, "I am your alpha!"

"And I am your beta!" Klaus exclaimed, his voice equally heated with so many emotions that he couldn't begin to sort out, let alone explain. He uttered the words so naturally like they were supposed to justify everything, like this sole fact could put all their current disaccord into perspective and solve whatever it was that separated their bodies even after a whole night of terror and a near-death experience.

But maybe they did. Because in the stunned silence their lips found each other like two magnets, grinding and rubbing and kneading with invisible electric sparks blasting all over the place.

She bit his lower lip a little too harshly, but he just opened his mouth without a single grunt. He knew exactly what she needed-what they both needed. Her tongue thrust into his mouth aggressively, sweeping the inside like a storm before taking his own tongue, sucking hard till it ached, a question that didn't require an answer. But Klaus gave it to her anyway-she could take his very essence with a mere touch. He licked her almost reverently, smoothing the hair that fell into her face, his move soft and gentle.

After several long seconds Caroline broke away first, but she didn't open her eyes. Klaus cupped her cheeks and she sighed into his palms, her eyelashes trembling under his intense gaze.

"I _am_ sorry, sweetheart." He kissed her eyelids delicately, "for what I put you through." He couldn't begin to imagine how she must have felt. If their roles were reversed he'd probably have gone out of his mind.

Caroline finally opened her eyes, peering at him with a bitter smile, "I'm so mad at you I could punch you if you are not already injured this badly. On second thought, I reserve the right to punch you when you get better." She tilted her head a little to the side, leaning into his left palm, her eyes downcast, "but I know I can't ask you to promise you won't do this again, no matter how much I want to."

Klaus sighed, stroking her cheekbones. They did know each other well. He wouldn't be able to keep a promise like that.

Caroline looked up into his eyes, "so we'll just have to do this another way." The corners of her lips slowly came up forming a sly smirk, "and I believe after the stunt you pulled a little…punishment is in order."

In a swift move she was out of his arms, towering over him with her hands on his shoulders, "now, do as you are told." She pushed him back with little force but Klaus was more than willing to oblige. When he was again laying on his back she straightened up and ordered in an authoritative voice, "you don't move any part of your body other than breathing and blinking, unless I _allow_ you to."

Klaus felt his whole body heated up almost immediately at her words. He gave her a salacious look, "Hm, kinky. I didn't know you had it in you, love. It's quite a turn-on." His voice became hoarse with expectation, "but I don't think we have a safe word yet."

Caroline's finger was pressed on his lips the next second, "and I didn't remember _allowing_ you to move your lips." Her tone was light and her motions sensual, but her eyes were fixed on his, the commanding steely blues burning silently. Klaus knew she needed extra control after the night she'd had so he complied without another word. Caroline grinned in satisfaction, "good boy. As for the safe word," she licked her lips and winked at him, "the only safe word I'll accept is your hot come inside me."

A low groan rolled from Klaus' throat.

"Don't get so worked up yet." Caroline grinned, opening the top button of her blouse, "we are just starting."

Oh the little minx. Klaus sighed in his mind as he watched her slowly opening her buttons one by one. His eyes were glued to the thin line of porcelain skin revealing from under the navy blue fabric. Noticing his stare, Caroline huffed a little laugh and brushed her fingers down her cleavage on purpose, "do you want to touch me? Do you wish it were you feeling me between my boobs?" She pushed the outfit off her shoulders, her beautiful breasts clad in black lace bra finally bouncing out.

Klaus swallowed hard. He longed to feel her skin and flesh, hot and soft under his palms, now more than ever. He knew she wouldn't grant him the privilege, not today, but it only made him want it more avidly.

Caroline bent down to remove her boots before pulling down the zipper of her jeans, her eyes again locked with his, "now I'm going to show you my legs. I know you love my legs. I'm quite fond of them myself." She pushed the jeans down, inch by fucking inch, and Klaus felt the fabric grazing on his own bare skin, the sensations speeding up his already quick pulse.

"And now this…I bet you want to do it yourself." Caroline kicked her jeans away carelessly and bent her arms to her back, the posture making her ample breasts stand out even more, "but sorry, you just get to watch." She unhooked her bra and threw it to the pile on the floor. Her breasts stood proudly in the cold light from the window, their curves so exquisite his chest hurt just from staring. He could see her nipples were hard and there were two thin red lines under her breasts from the wire of her bra.

Klaus couldn't decide where he wanted to run his tongue over more. He heard himself panting, thirst for her body like a nomad in desert for water.

Caroline curled two fingers into each side of her matching black panties, her perfectly-shaped hip bones that he loved so much to stroke just behind her knuckles. "This is getting kind of boring, isn't it?" She pouted as if in thought, "let's have a change of view then." She turned her back to him, her waist swaying a little in the process and Klaus just stared like hypnotized. As if dancing to an inaudible tune she shimmied out of her panties, and her bottom, round and perk, came into sight.

This was sheer torture. Klaus let out another groan as Caroline tapped her fingers slightly on her ass. "Remember, don't move." She turned back to face him, her face now flushed in a beautiful rosy hue. Klaus' body was lit on fire as soon as he saw the view between her legs, that shiny streak of moisture below her dark blonde bushes.

Caroline noticed his reaction and looked down knowingly, touching the outline of her folds with a single finger, "look at that. I'm all wet." She knelt onto the bed, offering her finger to his lips and answered his feverish look with a slight nod. Klaus immediately sucked her finger into his mouth, devouring it with craze. Caroline moaned at the feel of his tongue, but pulled out too soon for his liking.

"Do you miss my taste? Do you want to sink your tongue into my pussy and lick it good?" She turned to the side to tug at his tented up boxer brief, "god I want your tongue in my pussy so bad. It hurts just thinking about it." She rubbed his cock idly through the fabric, eliciting a throaty grunt, "but I won't let you help me with it." She pulled the boxer all the way down his legs in an abrupt move and Klaus sighed at the relief before tensing up again as she straddled him.

Caroline bent down to reach something from the night stand, her nipples brushing his chest, making them both moan uncontrollably. She sat back up, holding a condom in her hand. "We both know I'm on pills," she tore up the packaging, and drew out the next words breathily, "but I want you to last longer." She put the condom on his rock-hard cock, pumping it a few times afterwards and Klaus had to hold his breath against the sensation to not come right on the spot.

Maybe the condom was a good idea.

With her eyes on his Caroline leaned forward, her lips just short of brushing his, their hot uneven breaths mingling, "now comes the hard question-pun intended," her hand went down to grab his cock, "do you want to kiss me, or do you want to get inside me?" She grinned devilishly, "see? I gave you a choice."

Klaus just stared at her, his eyes tracing her lips hungrily and for a moment Caroline seemed in a trance as she ground her pussy against his groin, a tiny purr of joy flowing through her lips. But soon she came to her senses and a blush spread from her cheeks to the upper half of her heaving chest, "clever." She stroked Klaus' jaw line, "you may answer. One word, former or latter?"

He breathed out his answer, making sure to graze his lips against hers, "both."

As soon as the word left his mouth Caroline kissed him without warning. It was a primal kiss, every swipe of tongue screaming her need for him and Klaus reciprocated with all his desire. Her hands crept into his hair as she dived in further, gripping his curls with just the right amount of pressure and Klaus hummed into her mouth, his hands itching to come up and touch her.

As if sensing his agitation, Caroline pulled back with a smirk, "nice choice." She licked her lips to savor the lingering taste and oh how Klaus longed to lick them for her. His cock jumped at the thought, making Caroline giggle, "eager much?" She held it firmly in her hand, "I should keep you waiting, only that I don't think I can hold back any longer."

She lifted her body up a bit to place his throbbing cock at her entrance, pressing the head half in only to let it slide sideways. The instant friction heated their bodies from where they touched and they both cried out as waves of need consumed them from head to toe. "Oops." Caroline popped the word out through her heavy panting, the mischievous glint in her eyes soon drowned out by a searing lust.

Once again she put his cock beneath her pussy, this time sitting down on it slowly, sucking him in inch by inch. Klaus squinted at the warmth enveloping him. She was so tight he felt like he would explode from the pressure. When she finally took him all in Caroline threw her head back with a long moan, the line of her neck so smooth and inviting Klaus had to press his arms hard into the mattress to stop them from moving.

After she went past the overwhelming initial sensations Caroline turned her eyes back to Klaus' face, studying him while leisurely playing with her own boobs, "you feel so big and hard inside me." she hummed in pleasure as she circled her left nipple with her thumb and then pinched it, "I bet you want to move. You want to pound into me, hard and fast. You want to pull all the way out and thrust back in."

Klaus' head was swimming from the scenes she pictured, her words only fueling his desire, making it almost palpable like sweltering lava burning all through his veins, leaving him hot and hollow. "Can't really do anything with the rules, can you?" he heard her saying, "luckily for me I know how to do it without moving a finger." Her body held still as she clenched around him, her walls squeezing his cock making him cry out at the sudden assault.

Caroline herself looked equally flustered after the little trick, her breath short and erratic, and Klaus could feel her dripping along the inside of his thighs. She leaned forward again, her hands propped at either side of his neck and started to ride him, each rock of her body pushing his cock deep into her core. Every cell of his being filled with euphoria, but at the same time screamed for more as tides of need, each more drastic and intense than the last, inundated him.

For a minute all they could hear were each other's groans and grunts as their sweat vaporized into the air, shrouding them in a steaming haze of pheromone. Caroline crushed her lips down to his, stealing a kiss before taking pity on him, "you can speak now."

Klaus sighed as she pushed her neck to him, exposing her throat against his moving lips, "allow me to move, sweetheart. You know you want to." He coaxed while sucking at her pulse point, enjoying the mewling sounds she made.

But Caroline shook her head stubbornly, pushing herself into him with a faster pace, her voice strangled and broken, "don't forget…this is your punishment." She leaned down and pressed her lips to the gash on his chest ever so gently despite her frantic movement, "you are to watch on the sideline, not able to do a thing." A drop of sweat fell from her forehead to a smaller scratch above the wound, sending a prickling pain straight to his heart.

Klaus ran his eyes along her body, from her bouncing breasts to the adamant angle of her jaw line, from her glistening pussy to her blue eyes storming with want and rejection, "you are so beautiful, sweetheart. I want to hold your boobs in my hands and squeeze them hard. I want to suck on your nipple for so long you beg me to take care of the other one." He watched as Caroline unwittingly started to follow his instructions, playing with her nipples with her eyes closed, "yes, right there. You feel so good, love."

"I want to grab those pretty thighs of yours. I'm going to part them even wider than you already have, showing me all you've got. And then I'll push into you so deep you'd feel me in your stomach and taste me on your tongue. I'm going to fuck you senseless until you forget everything and the only word left in your head is my name."

"Klaus…" Caroline whimpered as she rocked on him with all her might, her pussy clenching around him tighter and tighter, the broken moans out of her throat almost painful. Klaus felt his cock tensing in response, his balls full and heavy for the impending release.

"God I'm so close." Caroline all but sobbed out, her fingers going down to her clit, rubbing frantically, "I want your fingers on me, so bad. I need your hands to come." She opened her eyes in desperation. They were a deep blue now like stormy seas, only the water was boiling hot signaling the eruption of a volcano on the seabed, "but you can't move. I need you but you can only watch." She bit her lips to keep the resolve in her wavering voice.

"Then imagine that's my hand on you, sweetheart." Klaus let all of his pent up desires bleed into his voice, touching her with his mind and heart, "imagine me rubbing your clit at the base, just the way you like it. Imagine me pressing down and grind the callous of my finger against it. Pinching it when my cock is the deepest inside you." He felt the spasm of her walls and knew it was time.

"Come now, Caroline."

Her body jerked with one last loud cry and she was shaking nonstop, her walls clenching hard on him. He came seconds later, growling as she kissed him through the unseeing bliss.

He felt her pulling out after a few minutes. She discarded the condom before lying down next to him, careful not to touch his wounds. He snaked an arm around her, running his hand along her back, feeling his skin just drink her presence in after the painful deprivation.

"I didn't like it one bit more than you." Caroline said quietly against his side, "bear that in mind the next time you decide to do something like this."

He pressed a kiss to the crown of her head, his heart heavy and yet light all at the same time, "I promise."

And this one he could keep. For as long as they lived.


	6. Thinking of You Chpt 6

_Sedona, 2016_

Caroline smiles at Mason who just came back with the order from another booth of customers. The scene feels so familiar it's almost like no time has passed since five years ago and she's still at the Mystic Grill with her sluttiest clothes on to convince the bartender she's not underage. She can't exactly say she misses that-she's long since outgrown that part of her life.

It's him that she's missing.

The sudden pang on her heart has become usual to her. But unlike the pain of turning on every full moon, she suspects she'll never get used to it.

Then she'll just have to get him back.

Mason sighs from behind the counter, crossing his arms, "I really hate lunch hour. Everyone's in a rush _and_ they have bad moods. It's worse than breakfast."

Caroline laughs at that, looking outside. The sun is shining brightly painting everything gold in sight, the outlines of faraway mountains melting into the strong light like mirage. She can feel the invisible pull of the moon, the disquietude inside her body growing. "You are looking quite busy. I shouldn't keep you." She drains the rest of her coke in one gulp, ready to leave for the forest.

But Mason's question stops her, "not to sound like a gossip, but…are you going to find him?" He scratches the back of his head, looking sheepish, "from what you told me you guys seem perfect for each other."

"Oh Mason, no offense, but you _are_ a gossip." Caroline gives him a pointed look, giggling, "no one in their right mind would listen to me drone this long about my love life." Her expression turns serious, "but to answer your question-yes, I'm gonna find him. Otherwise I wouldn't have come back. There are only so many wolf packs in the States."

"How did you decide to come back anyway?" Mason furrows his brows slightly, "I mean, five years, having seen the world? I bet there were tons of guys hitting on you." He juts his chin out towards the other side of the diner, "by the way, tall dude by the window? Totally into you. Told me he'd tip me extra if I get him your number."

Caroline shakes her head amused, "so that's why you don't want me to leave?"

"Why? You'd play along?" Mason smirks.

"We'll see." She gives him a mysterious grin, before returning to their previous subject, "I guess in a way I always knew I'd come back. I didn't know when or how that would happen, but I was sure the day would come in its own time." She opens her hands in a revealing gesture, "and voila, here I am."

"So what one day you got up and just got the idea to come home?" Mason seems puzzled, "like an epiphany? Damn your life's like a freaking TV show."

Caroline huffs a laugh, her eyes pensive in recollection, "yeah, something like that. But actually I was in this little bistro in Stockholm for breakfast."

She'd always imagined how it would go down. Picturing the possible scenes in her mind where she finally got the signals from the universe and her heart just _knew_ it was time. She thought it would be some place isolated with gloomy weather, like the deserted Irish seashores, where she'd stand by herself in the overwhelming wind, drowning in loneliness.

Or it could be some place really sunny and crowded, like Spain or Italy. Everyone would sing and dance and laugh in the street, cheery and boisterous with a lot of sunshine, and she'd feel miserable all of a sudden, finding herself out of place and crippled with memories.

But she never expected it would be so normal.

She was in Stockholm. There was just the proper amount of people and the weather was okay. Sunny, but not overly so. She ordered coffee and the waiter apologized in fluent English that their inventory guy made some kind of mistake so they were out of coffee, and suggested the fresh orange juice instead. She liked her OJ just fine so she gladly agreed. Everything was textbook ordinary. Not a story to tell.

And then it hit her.

Her life was good. Her life was wonderful. She didn't _need_ him at all to have a happy life.

But she _want_ him so bad in that second her heart was breaking into tiny pieces, scattering into the clean and healthy air.

She ended up crying hard in front of the whole bistro, unable to utter a word between her heavy sobs. The manager rushed to the Starbucks down the street to get her a coffee but she still couldn't stop her tears.

She realized then that Klaus would never be one of the necessary things in life. He was like the broken piece of paper she accidently grabbed in a carnival with half a poem scribbled on it, or the song she'd overheard a newly-engaged couple scream at the top of their lungs over the pouring rain, or the somersault she happened to see a little girl in a red dress perform in the middle of a huge square. No amount of world-traveling and sight-seeing could replace the unexpected presence of him in her being.

He was the ineffable anticipation she woke up to every morning, the unpredictable conversation she didn't notice she was having with her mind, the never-ending contemplation on all that piqued her interest. The known and the unknown wrapped up in one.

He made a dark day normal, a normal day shine, and a shiny day unforgettable.

"The important thing is," Caroline smiles, her eyes full of renewed conviction, "I didn't want to waste another second being without him after that day." She foraged for something in her purse, "which is why…" she holds that something out to Mason, "I'm gonna ask you for a favor. Would you keep this with you? In case he ever comes here. Tell him I'm heading to Tennessee and I'm looking for him."

Mason nods taking it from her, "no problem. You guys changed your numbers or something?"

Caroline bites her lower lip, "we had an…understanding. And speaking of numbers," She digs out a pen and piece of paper from her purse, jotting down a line before handing it to Mason, "here. It's the least I can do."

Mason looks at the number on the paper, smirking knowingly, "it's fake, isn't it?"

Caroline stands up and intentionally winks at the guy sitting by the window, "a girl doesn't lie and tell." With that she disappears through the wooden door, leaving the ringing of bells in her wake.

* * *

 _Mystic Falls, 2011_

Caroline smiled at the scene she walked into. Klaus was crouched in a little wooden chair, his long legs curled up awkwardly in front of him with a story book poised on his knees. Across from him was little Sammie, hands cupping her own cheeks, brows furrowed in thought. The late afternoon sun leaked through the thick leaves above, splattering golden speckles all over their bodies, the pattern shifting subtly in the breeze.

She never tired of watching him interacting with Jenna's little girl. He'd become good friends with Jenna shortly after the John incident and since Jenna gave birth to Sammie several years ago, the little girl kind of grew on him. Like her mother Sammie was smart and strong-willed even at such a young age and Klaus, being the ultimate magnet to the female kind (and maybe a large percentage of the male kind as well, though he never admitted it), had been Sammie's steadfast target ever since she started walking on wobbly legs.

"She'll make a damn good predator." Klaus once complained to her dramatically, "she observes and waits for the right moment to approach. She's stealthy and quiet with her ambush and when she gets her claws on you, it's always on a tender spot. Impossible to shake off."

And just as she told him at the time, he was all tender spots when it came to Sammie. Don't get her wrong, he still got super awkward and rigid like he didn't know how to act generally and lost all control of his facial expression, but the instincts that he didn't believe he had always kicked in at the right time and made Sammie love him more.

Which was probably why he ended up being the designated story-teller once again. Another point for Sammie the Klaus Kryptonite (Klausonite?).

"Is the woods really that dangerous?" Sammie was still processing the story she just heard, "with witches and candy houses? But the candy house is not dangerous. The witch is. She likes to eat kids."

"Well…it can be." Klaus drew out his words, not sure how deep and realistic his answer could go, "but we don't have witches here, none that we know of at least. And witches don't usually eat anyone. Some of them sacrifice…hurt people for their own needs though." He grimaced, as if already regretting having this conversation at all.

"So they are bad people?"

"It's…complicated." Klaus furrowed his own brows, his expression now similar to Sammie's, "I think we all have some bad in us. I could be a bad person although you don't know it. You could be too even if you don't want to be. But we try our best to do right by those we care for. It doesn't always matter but we still have to try."

Caroline's heart melted at his words. Sammie may not be aware of it, but she knew exactly how much weight those few lines held. She could sense Klaus tensing up as soon as the words left his mouth involuntarily, ready to bolt at any second. But Sammie always managed to throw them off with her little mind.

"I don't think I want to go into the woods." She jumped to the previous topic as if she hadn't heard a word Klaus just said, and the confounded look on Klaus' face made Caroline bite back a laugh, "I might get lost. Hansel left bread crumbs but the birds ate them." She looked up at the sky, pouting, "we have a lot of birds."

Klaus huffed a laugh, his face lightening up, "well you can always use the white pebbles."

"Right! White pebbles!" Sammie clapped her hands while beaming at Klaus, "you are so clever!" She suddenly jumped up, taking the story book from Klaus' lap, "I collected some when we went to the falls. I'll go ask mommy to find them for me." And she ran off to her house like a whirlwind.

Klaus stood up, staring at Sammie's back wide-eyed before he shook his head and laughed. "Brat." He muttered, clasping his hands behind him, "I was talking to you, Miss Eavesdropping."

Caroline strolled to him, snaking her arms around his waist, "well in my defense, I knew you were aware the second I arrived and you just chose not to acknowledge me, so technically I wasn't eavesdropping." She reached her lips up to give him a peck on his dimple, "and hello to you too, Mr. Nothing-Escapes-My-Perfect-Senses."

Klaus snorts, his arms sneaking up her back to hold her close, "you've outdone yourself, love. That name's even weirder than my original one." His face turned serious, "but first things first. I chatted up that vampire as we planned."

Caroline tensed up imperceptibly, but she urged herself to relax and appear normal, "yeah? What's her deal?"

They got the intel several days ago that a new vampire was in town recently, and a pretty old one at that. As far as they knew she wasn't related to anyone residing here. Given Mystic Falls' history with supernatural beings they decided to stay alert in case she had any ulterior motives. Hence Klaus' task of espionage.

"Her name is Tatia Petrova. She didn't reveal her age but I'm guessing a few centuries and up. You can feel the power just standing near her." Klaus' brows knitted together, recalling their encounter, "she said she was born here and had come back out of sheer nostalgia."

"And what do you think?" Caroline squinted, her suspicion instantly growing.

Klaus shook his head, "I think she's after something. But from what I gathered whatever she wants is of no concern to us. Vampire business perhaps."

"Huh." Caroline studied Klaus' face. He was probably the most perceptive of them all, not to mention his sharp instincts. So if he felt Tatia wasn't a threat to them then there was not much to be alarmed about. "That's good I guess." Her voice was low and somewhat hollow. For a moment she felt almost disappointed, because as much as she loathed the constant battles and shenanigans they gave her an easy out.

Of what she still wasn't completely sure.

Klaus was quick to catch up on her changing mood, "what's wrong, sweetheart?"

She had spent the better part of her day wandering around trying to make up her mind, debating with herself whether or not to tell him, to no avail. Yet as she looked up into those blue eyes she knew she was damned. Caroline had never been a good liar, but she did play certain tricks with her words whenever the need arose.

Not to Klaus though. No twisting or omitting or even rephrasing. At first it was just her conscience but as time went by it became physically impossible to lie to his face. He was her wine and in his presence truth she uttered.

"We need to talk." She mentally hit herself on the back of her head for blurting it out like that. She was trying to be honest, not tactless.

Klaus had a strange look on his face. He seemed half surprised and half confirmed. Like he was expecting her suggestion, but not quite. Nodding he released her from his hold, his eyes pensive and subdued, "yeah, I guess we do. Shall we, um…" he gestured towards the woods, "go somewhere quiet?"

She silently took his hand.

They stopped at a clearing deeper into the woods after about ten minutes' walk. Klaus sat down under a large beech tree and patted the ground beside him, "we'd better sit down." He laughed a little nervously, "I have a feeling this is going to be a long talk."

Caroline complied, but carefully kept some distance between them. She couldn't afford to have any physical contact with him right now, not when her mind was currently a jumbled mess of thoughts. His scent and heat was already distracting. She kept running draft versions of what she was gonna say in her mind, cutting herself off every time before she even broached the real subject. The prolonging silence only added to her agony, but Klaus saved her from the minor anxiety attack.

"I've been thinking about what you said last time." He started, and at her confused look specifying, "about the future of the pack."

Oh. _That_ was what he thought they were to talk about. Caroline didn't know what to feel. She was fretting all the way down here about her almost-decision that it didn't even enter her mind they had an unsettled argument.

They had been at it for weeks. The pack kept growing these years and it became more and more difficult and unrealistic to reside in the woods of a small town as Mystic Falls. Klaus had a proposition that they leave for the bigger forests and keep a somewhat nomadic life style, whereas Caroline insisted they stay where the pack was familiar with and slowly fit into the human society. They had yet to reach an agreement when Tatia came into the picture and they had to put their argument on hold.

"As I was saying," Klaus' voice dragged her attention back to the present, "I've given it some more thought and I think we should compromise. I'm aware that some members of the pack are unwilling to leave, and I see your point that some of us need the stability, especially the kids."

He locked eyes with her, exhaling long and slow, "to be honest I've never humored the notion of interacting closely with human. I'd always feel like an outsider, knowing we are essentially different." He smiled a little, halting her attempt to interrupt, "I know what you want to say, but we both know I'm too set in my ways regarding my _trust issues_." They shared a laugh, "however, I do believe the younger ones, like Sammie, should have the chance to make up their own minds about humans. And they can't do that without getting involved."

"You really think so?" Caroline was unsure. He seemed pretty adamant in their previous quarrels.

Klaus shrugged, "it all comes down to choices I guess. It _is_ the 21st century and I say we leave it to the pack members to decide for themselves. If they want to remain in the pack, we'll figure out together where we are heading next. And if they want to stay, that's fine. They can always rejoin us after a few years."

"Choices, huh?" Caroline drew up her legs and rested her chin on her knees, "you are really okay with that? I mean I thought you'd be pretty upset if people just, you know, up and leave." Her heart started pounding heavily in her chest, scared that he'd discover what she was intimating, the treacherous secret fidgeting restlessly under her indifferent mask.

Klaus sighed, averting his eyes, dark shadows flitting through his features making him look hard but vulnerable, the dichotomy that he always had been, "you know I value pack above almost anything. But even though we are a pack, we can't always want the same things at the same time. Life is capricious like that."

A sudden wave of irresistible sadness washed through her, so fierce and violent that she couldn't breathe. Her heart felt like it was marinating in salt and acid and a thousand unprocessed emotions, raw and quivering, with tears bleeding out from all the hidden compartments and she just wasn't able to hold it in. They rushed to her eyes and streamed down her cheeks like fleeing crowd in a silent movie, desperate without a sound.

The hitched breaths finally gave her away and Klaus' hands were on her face instantly, trying to make her look at him, "Caroline, sweetheart what is it?" He sounded worried and frantic, which did nothing to slow down her tears, "you are really scaring me."

She bit the inside of her mouth hard, willing herself to calm down and not act like a neurotic crazy bitch. She wanted to be composed and sensible at it-at least not like she was throwing a tantrum or having an emotional melt-down but all she managed to do was rasping out while wiping her face, "I have to leave."

Klaus froze on the spot. After a few moments he asked puzzled, "where for?" His eyes blinking rapidly as though he couldn't comprehend what she just said.

"No, not have to. I don't have to, but I want to. Or a part of me wants to. I don't know." Caroline knew she was rambling nonsense and she hadn't answered his question yet. She couldn't hold this any longer, not under his almost helpless stare. She closed her eyes briefly and took in a deep breath, "Klaus, I've decided to…break from the pack for a while. I want to go around a bit, maybe see the world. Alone." The last word tasted like sandpaper on her tongue and Caroline welcomed the dull pain-it kept her sane somehow.

Plus it had nothing on the look Klaus was giving her. His eyes seemed shattered upon hearing her words and the million pieces were put back together out of wretched pride. Seeping through the seams was something so cold and hurtful that merely holding his gaze sent her heart screaming in anguish. But she didn't break their eye contact, not for a second.

"So you _want_ to leave?" Klaus bit out the words, his face blank like the center of a storm.

Caroline gave him a slight nod, "yes. I want to go out there and just…explore. Maybe try to build a life for myself." She knew that would hurt him, she saw the explosion coming, but his sudden rage still startled her.

Klaus was up standing in a blink, his nostrils flaring as he yelled in a booming voice, "you have a life here!" He threw his tightly-clenched fist out in abandon and hit the trunk in the process, leaves falling from the shaking branches forming a heavy curtain between them, and his face looked obscure and distant through the transitory veil. In fact, Caroline hadn't felt so far away from him since the first day they met.

"Yes, and I love it so very much." Caroline tried to explain, to him as much as to herself, "but Klaus, all of my life I've been the alpha. I've never been anywhere, I've hardly done anything just for me without considering the benefit of the pack, I've never…lived." She looked into his eyes eager for him to understand, "I want to become this smart, mature and worldly person and for that, I need some time away from this."

"You mean me." Klaus' lips twitched into a lopsided grin but his eyes were humorless, "you want some time away from me." He cut her off before she had a chance to protest, "and don't try to deny it. I heard the word 'alone' loud and clear. I've got to hand it to you, love. You can be very brutal with your honesty when you _want_ to."

Caroline ignored the flush in her cheeks, a tell-tale sign of another fresh bout of tears, "I do want to do this by myself. But you know very well I don't mean it like that. You know that I don't ever want to lose you, or hurt you."

"Do I?" He always did know how to cut people the deepest with his words. Something he'd been sparing her from until now.

"If you have to nullify everything we've been through and degrade it by pretending our feelings for each other weren't fucking clear then I have nothing to say to you." Caroline herself was on the brink of losing it, "you have every right to be upset about my decision but if for one second you are questioning my reasons behind it, Klaus, you are out of your mind!"

Her head was still reeling when she heard his voice, this time without much hostility, just tired and hesitant, "is this about Tatia?" Her head snapped up in shock, the look on her face seemingly all the answer he needed. Klaus leaned back on the tree trunk with a defeated hint of smile, "I knew you were there the minute you stepped foot in the bar."

Caroline sighed, shaking her head, "should have known. You really do have perfect senses." She'd gone into town to run some trivial errands and decided to check up on him. She listened in on his conversation with Tatia but it was just for a few minutes. She didn't think he'd notice.

"Just for you." The sadness in his tone ate at Caroline's heart, "I never thought we'd stoop to this but well…desperate times." He snorted in cold sarcasm but his own wording betrayed him. He covered it quick, explaining what he meant by that, his expression shutting down further, "there was nothing between me and that vampire. I flirted with her because I wanted the information. Do I find her attractive? Yes, to an extent. Do I fancy her? Not one bit. She was just a means to an end."

Caroline watched his stony profile, her heart filled with bitter sorrow. He was never one to justify his own actions and she knew how much it was costing him to say these. "I admit my decision had something to do with what I saw, or rather heard." She reached up to tug at his hand, "but it's nothing like that." She tugged at him again and he reluctantly sat back down next to her, snatching his hand away.

Caroline sighed, "I wish it were just petty jealousy, however bad it may have looked on me. Unfortunately it's not that simple." She'd been intimidated at first. Tatia was extraordinarily beautiful with her long wavy dark hair and smoking body. Half of the bar was staring at her. But it wasn't just that. She was charismatic in an almost old-fashioned way, sophisticated and well-informed. Even her modest burgundy dress looked classy enough to make into the wardrobe of a royalty.

But one look at Klaus and her nagging worry was gone. He may be laughing at Tatia's jokes but his eyes screamed _bored_. Yet as she kept on watching Tatia still intrigued her, on a whole different level. The way she carried herself, experiences she talked about, her insight on things…it roused a longing deep within her, one that scared her to the bones because she knew she wouldn't be able to resist.

"I've always had a feeling ever since we started to talk about the future, that this…small town life isn't enough for me." She was living the exact same life as her parents, her grandparents, and generations of ancestors before them. She dwelt on the land they dwelt, roamed the woods they roamed, and led the posterity of the pack they led. Sometimes she could feel their ghosts around her, in her, and the huge weight was dragging her down. "I was only pushing for us to stay because I was afraid I wouldn't be satisfied with just repeating it somewhere else."

She rested her hand on Klaus' knee and this time he didn't shrug her away, "and then I heard you talking to her about Budapest."

He turned to her with furrowed brows, surprised and confused, "what does that have to do with anything?"

"You made it sound so beautiful."

She couldn't chase the look on his face away from her mind. How his eyes lit up when he regaled Tatia with his childhood adventure. How his smile seemed almost giddy while recalling sneaking out of his pack into the city. How his hands made excited gestures and his voice filled with awe as he described the parliament building at night, "it was all lit up, gold and shining, nearly transparent as if it were built from glass. Like a palace that you only see from Disney movies. And there were these gulls from the river, hundreds of them, just hovering above, also lit up by the light. When you look from a distance they seemed like stars with wings."

His conversations with Tatia may have been a ruse, but his words and feelings were real. And Caroline felt infected, charmed even, by the pictures he painted so vividly in a dimly-lit run-down small town bar. She never wished stronger than that moment that she had it in her. That she had the wonders of the world stored in her to be sure there was no place she'd rather be than the here and now.

"And I just knew I wanted to see it for myself." She squeezed Klaus' hand at his anxious look, "I'm sure you'd take me anywhere in a heartbeat, but I have to do this on my own." She smiled a little at him, her eyes brimming with tears at the sudden sense of finality in the pit of her stomach, "you once told me that every stream led to the ocean. I want to head for the ocean now."

Klaus looked away from her, leaning his head back on the trunk facing up, blinking furiously. When he finally turned back to her his eyes were red-rimmed, but his lips were bent into such a sweet curl it broke Caroline's heart on sight, "you only remembered half of my words, sweetheart. I said you were a stream." He wiped away the stray tear at the corner of her eye, "and you will _be_ an ocean."

He cupped her face and kissed her ever so gently. It tasted like the woods and sea water, and Caroline instantly knew she would taste it so many more times in the years to come, whenever she was missing him from thousands of miles away.

They stayed in each other's arms long after the kiss, just soaking in the warmth they knew would soon vanish. Eventually it was Klaus who broke the silence, "since you are going to be a fish back into the sea, so to speak," he chuckled as Caroline slapped his chest half-heartedly, "I want you to grant me three wishes, love."

"I shouldn't have let you read all those stories to Sammie." Caroline snorted, knowing he was just trying to lighten up the mood, "you sound like such a dork. But ask away."

His voice turned serious, "okay. First I wish you would stay until after the full moon. I want to turn with you for the last time."

"It's not the last time!" Caroline corrected him vehemently, "I'll come back eventually."

"Yes, you will." He smoothed his hand through her hair, his tone almost reassuring, "the last time before we meet again then. Will you stay?"

"Of course. What's the second?" She asked quietly, the talk about her impending departure weighing on her.

He hesitated for a minute, "I want you to change your phone number once you leave. I will do the same with mine." Sensing her about to protest he silenced her with a peck on her hair, "as much as it pains me to say so, I agree that you need the time on your own to figure things out." He choked out a bitter laugh, "and when you do, you'll find me. One day."

She didn't know how to respond to that. She couldn't see what the future held and it excited her, frustrated her, scared her, confused her. She was so sure this was something she must do but at the same time had no clue how to do it. She felt lost as if in a labyrinth and every turn could possibly take her further away from what she wanted all along.

But she couldn't say it out loud. So she just asked numbly, "and your third wish?"

His breath was warm and soothing against her ear, "bring white pebbles with you."

And with that, Caroline suddenly saw in her mind's eye a thin white trail lit up by bright moonlight meandering into the labyrinth. She smiled, knowing without a doubt that no matter how deep she went and how many wrong paths she might take, she'd always find her way back.


	7. Thinking of You Epilogue

_Sedona, 2016_

"Dude, I just don't get it." Mason is putting a stack of clean glasses onto the shelf, his head turned back to Klaus, "you two sound like the golden couple-in wolf terms anyway. Why did you let her go then? You know there's always the off chance that she, well, won't come back."

"When did you trigger your curse?" Klaus smirks when Mason nearly drops the glasses at the sudden turn of subject.

"College, sophomore year, why?" Mason makes a face, "and that was the lamest deflection I've ever seen."

"I wasn't deflecting." Klaus shrugs, "sophomore year you said? So you've been through the human route. Tell me, do you remember your girlfriend at the time?"

Mason furrows his brows, thinking hard, "barely. I was quite popular you know, and girls just…came and went. It was never really serious."

Klaus nods before sighing, "exactly. Young love is all nice and sweet, but fragile. There's always the doubt, the uncertainty, and people are easily swayed. It's the best time to fall in love, and the worst to preserve it."

"And you think that's what it was about?" Mason raises an eyebrow, "I mean you and Caroline?"

Klaus shakes his head, his smile wistful but his eyes firm, "luckily for us, we are not like that at all." There's a smug tone to his voice, but it soon turns to nostalgia, "she was young, but she never doubted us. She just wasn't so sure about herself, and…well, I could relate."

He knew he couldn't hold her back the second she brought up his speech about Budapest. He went there when he was only thirteen. His pack was just passing by, but he was going through a rebellious phase at the time and went rogue. He never regretted his decision, not even when he was yelled at and beaten on later because of it. As opposed to their cold words and vicious fists, he had the magnificent sight of an illuminated Danube River, palaces and bridges shining in the dark blue velvet sky.

It was his for no one to take, and it grounded him. In the light of the memory he saw himself, and his place in life.

Caroline may have been touched by the look on his face when he was talking about it, but she didn't see hers. Her eyes yearned to hold all the beauty in the world. She had yet to see what life had to offer, and what she could become.

"She still needed the chance to grow. And to be honest, so did I." Klaus grudgingly admits, "but unluckily for us, that was not something we could do together. Sometimes you have to be distant enough to gain the perspective."

Or at least that's what he reasoned with himself. What he told himself when he missed her so much he ached all over deep in the night. What he repeated to himself to keep the little sanity he had left. But the truth was he just wasn't able to deny her anything. She said she wanted it, and she got it. It was that painfully simple.

"Yeah that sucks." Mason sympathizes, "must have been hard. But look at the good side, you guys were dead serious with this. One way or another you'd end up together eventually."

He sounds so sure about it himself Klaus has to laugh, "that's very supportive of you mate, but there are a lot of…variables in this." He traces a droplet of water on the wall of his glass, "and one can only hope."

He often replayed the last night they were together. It was a full moon. Their wolves had got into a little game of hide-and-seek at Caroline's silent suggestion. One of them would disappear into the dark woods and the other would run after. The chase was thrilling and somehow reassuring. Time and again they'd always found each other. After that night Caroline's scent was seared into his mind like nothing else. Even to this day he swore he could recognize her in miles.

"Hypothetically speaking," Mason now has a mysterious smile on his face, but Klaus brushes it off as plain curiosity and nosiness, "if you see her again, what would you do first?"

Klaus doesn't even deign to answer. He just shoots him an incredulous are-you-crazy-or-just-that-dumb look.

"After _that_." Mason deadpans, "or have you never thought beyond it?"

If he only knew.

He pictured it so many times in his mind he's lost count. As much as he longs to hold her and kiss her and sink his hands into her blonde silky waves and make her scream out his name in ecstasy, he also misses her voice, her laugh, her company. Every time in his projection it's something different, something trivial and mundane but with Caroline nothing is really trivial and mundane. Every second in her presence makes his heart sing.

He wants to draw her. She must look different now, older and wiser. He wants to run his pencil through the paper like he run his hands through her body, every line and curve and ridge and dip. He doesn't want to miss even the tiniest bit of change, for her body now is almost like a map and each shift in contour has a story behind.

And he wants to hear her stories. Where she's been, what she's seen, who she's met. Knowing Caroline she'll have tons of photos and souvenirs ready to show him, to demonstrate her exciting discoveries nonstop with all those colorful details and witty commentaries. Or he just wants her melodious voice to flow through his ears, like he's felt in so many dreams, but real this time.

He also wants to go drinking with her. She wasn't even legal the last time she was with him. She was a light-weight and always turned to a handsy little cub when she had one too many to drink, but she said some of the most insightful things in her drunken state. He wonders if she's still like that now, if she still keeps all those endearing habits and quirks of hers.

There are so many things he wants to do with her. So many things that are just figments of his imagination, and nothing more.

"I don't know." Klaus hears himself saying, his voice flat and void.

Mason smirks, his eyes glinting in a mischief that Klaus can't quite decipher, "you might try turning with her first."

"What?" Klaus is half puzzled and half annoyed at the weird comment until Mason reaches under the counter and retrieves something. Without a word he opens his palm, and what lies there sucks Klaus in like a black hole. He suddenly feels hard to breathe but he can't for the life of him avert his eyes.

It's a white pebble.

He's up in a blink of an eye, propping himself over the counter, leaning into Mason's face, "where did you get this?" His glare is murderous, his body shaking imperceptibly from rage but his voice is barely audible, uttered like the coldest death threat.

Mason just shrugs, "she was here, Caroline." He smiles at Klaus' involuntarily softening features, "just this morning. She left this with me and asked me to give it to you if you ever happen to step foot in here." He wiggles his brows, handing the pebble towards Klaus, "it's a small world, isn't it?"

Klaus takes the pebble quietly. He doesn't trust himself to speak right now, so he just runs his thumb over the smooth surface of the stone almost piously, as if it were some priceless talisman, or a magical existence that he never expected to see with his own eyes.

"She was heading to the forests, you know." Mason gestures in the direction, "full moon."

Klaus finally raises his head, the pebble now held firmly in his fist. "Thanks," he told Mason, his voice low and calm, nothing like his tumultuous mind. All inexplicable thoughts and all unnameable emotions are swirling inside him, throwing him off balance. He's left disoriented and unsettled like he was minutes from shifting, a pain mixed with deep-rooted longing washing over him.

In the middle of all the chaos he feels a pull, so strange but so familiar, stronger even than the moon, stronger even than his own demons and fear.

And he answers to it, in a heartbeat.


	8. Offshore

**Author's Note:** _Offshore_ , written for Angelikah on AO3 ( thetourguidebarbie on Tumblr). AU, Mermaid!Caroline.

* * *

 _Cornflower blue_ was a joke, albeit an aesthetically pleasing one.

In oceans this deep there is no light, no color, only darkness that stretches for miles and years. Cold, greedy monstrosity that feeds on anything in sight, including itself. A place where anything lost can never be found, and anything becoming is snuffed out before the first cracking of its eyelids.

Klaus feels as if he were digging into his own heart as he kicks into the void behind to push himself further down. He mentally waves the disturbing thought away. Must be hallucinating. Which shouldn't be a surprise since he's been going at this for hours.

The salt in the water burns his eyes, the lack of oxygen burns his lungs, and the constant humming of currents or bubbles or whatever bloody sea creatures faraway burns his eardrums.

If he isn't so frustrated he'd probably reflect on how funny it is that with the heightened senses, almost everything appears to vampires in the form of some kind of touch. The warmth of sunlight an incessant tapping on the skin, the fruity flavor of a fine wine a gentle caress on the taste buds, the feeling of loneliness and abandonment a cold tightening grip on unknown parts of the heart.

And the water seems to only amplify that effect.

Klaus transfers those unbidden thoughts and, god forbid, _emotions_ , into a violent force, running it through his veins and every seam of his bones like he always does. He kicks faster, he pushes harder, and he ignores all the screaming discomforts of his body. This he can do-bracing through the physical suffering, and going forward, all consequences be damned.

He has always been the reckless one anyway.

But recklessness can't seem to help this time, like the tens or hundreds of times just before. He's come slightly further this round, but still not far enough. He can barely see the edge of the trench, lying there like a dark sneer. And just stuck several feet down, the deceiving gleam of the wood surface. It's almost like a hallucination in this mind-numbing darkness but Klaus knows it's there. He can _feel_ it.

He's so close. Just a few more pushes and he will be there. Just a few more seconds, he will be able to touch the cold cage he built for the one person that he hasn't parted with for the entirety of his life. But in those few moments he will also burn out the scarce oxygen that's left in his blood and thus fall into a temporary death.

For a split second Klaus considers the idea of dying, however short-lasting it may be. He can hear his own heart beating in his chest so hard the ocean seems to pulse along with it, and he's almost paralyzed with the consuming sensation-dread or anticipation he cannot tell-that his heart picks up way faster than his head.

But suddenly he senses something in the corner of his eyes, or rather, in the margin of his sensory range. An unusual movement of the currents, or a weird reflection. And yet what really alarms him is the feeling that hasn't cheated him once since he became a vampire-that he's being _watched_.

With the remaining strength and the spiking adrenaline induced by potential threat, he torpedoes to the surface of water, all the way sensing the unknown creature tailing him stealthily.

The second he steps onto the shore where he's left his shirt and shoes, he spins around to face the water, now completely still without even a ripple in sight. But he can still feel those eyes staring at him from somewhere down the surface, so he glares back. Though he leaves his voice calm and smooth, almost playful-no need to bring out the main course just yet, he likes to work up his appetite a little.

"I don't think we've been properly introduced yet, my friend." His lips curl around the words like a nice warm sugar coat, "and that just won't do."

The water answers him with dark silence.

 _Checkmate_? No, he doesn't think so. And his opinion bloody matters because he can make it a fact.

"I can see that you are probably shy. Don't worry, I'm somewhat of an introvert myself. I can relate." He lowers his voice as he crouches down till he can almost see his own reflection in the water, "you just need a little insurance. And I can give you just that."

He draws out his smirk, his fingers lightly flipping on the surface of the water, slicing it open, "show yourself, right this second. Because if I have to compel a bunch of clueless humans to bomb this part of the ocean until all those corpses of fish block your sunlight for all eternity-that is, if you don't end up one of those corpses-I can and I will."

He sets out to count to three in his head. He doesn't even get to two.

"Cut your empty threats." A melodic voice floats over the water like mists, soft but cold. And together with it emerges its owner's mysterious figure: half-naked upper body, seashell-decorated breasts, the glint of scales just below the waterline (of course, mermaid-should have guessed).

And a face the beauty of which he didn't expect.

Skin smooth and pale like polished shells, it almost shines under the moonlight. Shinier is her golden hair, wild curls reaching just down her delicate collar bone, framing her face into an even lovelier shape. But her eyes-they are what takes his breath away.

Seems like _cornflower blue_ is real after all. Perhaps he's staring at the very reason that deep down there the ocean is so dark-how can it not be, when all the color is sucked into those entrancing sapphires?

He catches himself before the silence stretches for too long-beautiful mermaid or not, he came with a mission, "and how do you know my threat is empty?"

The mermaid mirrors his humorless smile, her knowing eyes and icy voice cutting him to the core, "because I've seen enough drowning faces to know what desperation looks like."

"You are making assumptions, love," he stands up abruptly to loom over her, clenched fists hidden behind his back like his well-concealed secrets that no stranger mermaid should have access to, "and unfounded ones at that."

"Oh, am I?" The mermaid swims closer, propping one of her elbows against the white sand, cupping her cheek with her soft hand, not at all intimidated by their positions, "well you just made one about me, someone you have absolutely zero knowledge of. Whereas I know who you are, what you are looking for, and how important it obviously is to you. I'd say my _assumption_ is way more solid than yours."

Klaus smirks despite the uneasy feeling in his heart, letting her comments about the object he's after slide for the moment, "I see my reputation precedes me even offshore."

"Yeah well, the original hybrid breaking his curse is kind of the news of the year around the supernatural community, or whatever it is." She snorts, "but I have to say, you are not nearly as scary in person."

"Is that so?" Klaus lifts his eyebrows, half surprised and half amused, "what did you expect then? An ugly beast covered in blood and gore?"

"Not someone seconds from committing suicide to get what he wants. And just for the record?" she tilts her head a little, a lock of her blonde curls falling into her eye and Klaus longs to push it aside, "I wasn't going to save you if you actually drowned."

"So you can keep my handsome stony face in you little garden?" Klaus presses a hand to his chest, "how touching."

"Fairytales don't suit you, Klaus." The mermaid's blue eyes flicker as her face becomes unreadable, "and don't think for a second that I believe you keep talking to me just because you find me attractive."

Klaus holds her fiery gaze while crouching down in front of her again, his forefinger softly holding her chin up. Her racing heartbeat is loud in his ears but she doesn't flinch away from him. He inches closer in an agonizingly slow pace until the tips of their noses are almost touching and her warm breath tastes salty on his tongue, "then how about you tell me about my other intentions, lovely little mermaid?"

She reaches up and snatches his hand away from her chin, her voice startlingly clear in the silence of the dark night, "you need my help. You want me to fetch your coffin from the trench."

"And would you?" Klaus lowers his eyes briefly to cover the calculating look under his lashes, "help me, I mean?" He watches her face intently, searching for any traces to decipher her true angle in this, but she's just as unrevealing as the ocean, glowing in the moonlight.

"I'm not considering it until you tell me what's in there."

It's Klaus' turn to snort this time, "sweetheart, you were not wrong when you stated that I was attracted to you. But what makes you think I would give you that kind of information when you haven't given me one piece of your own? Not even your name?"

The mermaid rolls her eyes, "you don't need my name for me to do your bidding. I'm just a little blonde submarine to you anyway. And I only give my name to those I trust."

"And let me guess, you don't trust me because I'm the original hybrid. The evil monster, the abomination of nature, the list goes on and on."

"No," she draws out her voice like he's a kid throwing a tantrum, and Klaus is beyond annoyed by that he growls menacingly, but she merely carries on her speech with an equally annoyed expression, "because you threatened my life, and lives of thousands of creatures in this part of the ocean before we even met. Seriously, for someone who's supposed to be a billion years old you sure are melodramatic. What, you keep a list of all the mean names people have called you? Gr-" She swallows her last two words under his increasingly murderous glare.

Klaus keeps her under his stare for a few more seconds before he finally opens his mouth, "good, you still have some sense of self-preservation. Now, as much as I enjoy our midnight chatting, I'll have to ask you to do exactly as I say."

"Or what? You and I both know you are not able to compel a mermaid. And you keep forgetting something." In the blink of an eye she's already backed away from the shore, far out of his reach, "this is my turf." She smirks, "now be grateful that I still haven't ditched your ass and tell me what's in that coffin of yours. Then we'll talk."

Klaus leaps to his feet and starts pacing in frustration. A part of him wants to jump into the water right this second and strangle her, wiping that bloody little smirk off her perfect face, but the other parts of him, the more rational, level-headed parts are telling him that he has run out of options.

"I'm waiting." The devil herself sing-songs and Klaus throws up his hands in reluctant defeat.

"Fine. But know this," he grinds out, wielding his voice like a sword even if he knows he's losing the battle, "if you ever tell a living soul about this you'll be worrying about far more pressing matters than the well-being of your fish friends."

For her credit the mermaid doesn't show any hint of smugness upon her victory, "I know how to keep a secret."

Klaus avoids her bright eyes like shadows shying away from the burning sunlight. But those shining orbs follows him in his subconscious, and Klaus finds himself drying out under their innocent heat. He has to reach into his cold, hardened insides and drag out the answers she wanted, scratch them from his bones, rip them from his flesh and extract them from his blood until those few shriveled words are forced out of his throat, but still tastes like ash on his tongue.

"It's my sister." He suddenly feels drained, his voice barely above a whisper.

The mermaid covers her mouth, her eyes widening, "oh my god, I'm so sorry. I didn't realize…"

"No, she isn't dead." Klaus sighs, "not in the traditional sense at least. We are immortals. We can't be killed. Let's just say she's put into sleep for a certain period of time."

"Let me guess." She crosses her arms in front of her chest, " _you_ put her in that sleep."

He has to hand it to the girl-she does have a sharp mind. But that doesn't give her the right to meddle in his family business, or judge him for putting a dagger in Rebekah's heart. He knows exactly what he did-he sees his sister's eyes the moment the dagger penetrated her ribcage every night before he falls into sleep or insomnia. The hurt, the accusation, the _surprise_.

After a thousand years, Rebekah still acts so surprised every time he motions to take her life away from her. His sweet little sister. Sometimes he wonders if she knows him too well, or doesn't know him at all.

Perhaps the latter. Because if she knows only one thing of him, it's that he never tolerates betrayal.

He grins coldly at the cluelessly self-righteous mermaid, "I have my reasons."

"I'm sure you do." Her voice is dripping with contempt, "your kind always does."

"Think whatever you want," he tells himself that he doesn't care, that it won't make a difference if another one finds a way to blame him for their own misery, even if they have the bluest eyes in the world, "just keep your half of the bargain. Get me that coffin and you can pray that you never see me or _my kind_ in your fleeting life span."

"I never promised you anything." She scoffs at him, "I just said that I would consider."

"I have to say I'm rather disappointed, sweetheart. For a moment there I really took you for the smart type." Klaus studies her seemingly calm expression, taking immeasurable joy in the notion that it's about to falter any minute now, "but since we've come to this, let me kindly remind you-don't for a second think that I believe you keep talking to me just because you want a bedtime story."

Yes, it definitely is worth it to see that beautiful face smeared with panic. Even if just for a few breaths' time. "Like I said, you just need to keep you half of the bargain." he grins at her like a Cheshire cat. "Come on, sweetheart. Why don't you start by telling me your name, and what you want from me in exchange?"

Her lashes tremble a little under his scrutiny, a tell-tale sign of vulnerability, and for a moment there she looks like the child that she really is. But then it's gone and her eyes meet his with new-found determination, stronger than ever, "I'm Caroline. And I want you to find me a Bennett witch."

Suspicion grips his heart as it always does when there happens to be too many coincidences aligned. This…Caroline is it? Klaus silently feels her name on the tip of his tongue, testing the curves and drawls that has yet been uttered. This mysterious, stunning creature shows up out of nowhere when he's looking for the coffin occupied by his daggered sister which has been dumped at the bottom of the ocean, and she's in need of a Bennett witch, probably _the_ Bennett witch since their bloodline seems to end there, who has just run out on him.

Apparently he needs more pieces of the puzzle, so he goes straight to the only source he has, "what does a sweet girl like you need that for? And why do you think it's of my concern to find you one?"

Caroline rolls her eyes at him, seemingly unconscious of his alarmed and guarded tone, or she just doesn't care enough, "I hate to boost your already inflated ego, but yes, your reputation is not lost on us sea residents. And from what I've heard, you are perfectly capable of procuring a Bennett line descendent, seeing as you've had countless run-ins with the witches, however unpleasant it must have been for them. You want a bargain? Here's my term. Bennett witch, or no deal." She cuts him off before he can raise another question, "as for the reason why I'm looking for one…well, why did you put your sister to _sleep_ in the first place?"

"Tread carefully, little mermaid." He bristles inside, though he paints a tight smile on his face, "what you don't know of wouldn't hurt you, now would it?"

Caroline huffs at that, her hair glistening with the slight shake of her head, "I thought we've already been through this, but fine, let's go for the dramatic demonstration." In that instant she's gone from his sight, the only thing still shining on his retinal the ghost image of the breath-taking line of her slender neck and breasts when she leant backwards, and the silver twinkles of her tail. Next thing he knew, he was assaulted by a giant wave of sea water. He instinctively jumps back, but not swiftly enough as to dodge a slap in the face by something cold and slippery.

He furiously blinks the burning water out of his eyes, his sight still bleary. But in the blur he hears her laughter, now back to where she was a few moments ago, such a rich, bright, and enchanting sound-like the sound of the thousands of pieces of moonlight bouncing on the ocean surface , that is, if that sound could ever be heard by living (or dead) ears.

"Still think you are all-powerful here?" She's still laughing, totally pleased with her childish prank, "just a friendly reminder that you are not the only one with supernatural speed here under water. And immortal or not, you can still drown." On that note her face sobers up a little, "also, I'll decide what I do or do not need to know. And right now I need to know your intentions with your sister to be sure that I won't dig her out of that trench for nothing."

Klaus holds her eyes for a minute and he almost wants to laugh at the absurdity of the situation. This girl hasn't ever met Rebekah to know the bloodthirsty, manipulative and capricious little devil that she can well be, and yet she's demanding information from him to ensure her safety. She's trying to protect his own sister from _him_ -but isn't that what he, too, has tried countless times to do? To save her from the possible harm he could do to her, even by inflicting pain and heartache preemptively?

He sighs defeated, feeling exhausted all of a sudden, like the hundreds of treks deep into the ocean have finally caught up with him, "all you need to know is that I want my only remaining family back." His voice is feral from the confession. He can feel the itch of his fangs trying to come out and his eyes has probably flashed golden by the time he finished the sentence.

Such a rare, _human_ thing to say but it's the beast that bursts from all those raw emotions. And he searches Caroline's eyes fiercely for something, anything that he can recognize-repulse, fear, or even sympathy.

He finds nothing that he expected.

Shining in her eyes is something akin to understanding, and the words that silently flows from her lips prove that, "my mother died when I was little. The only thing I have of her is a magical seashell with her voice sealed in it. But it was…accidentally broken, and apparently the magic used on it was of Bennett origin." Caroline bites her lower lip pensively, then looks up at him square in the eyes, "so I guess we have a similar goal."

It seems a hesitant nod on Klaus' part is enough to seal the deal, as he finds himself left alone on the shore staring at the ripples that have taken her place in the water with a ton of questions unvoiced, and a somewhat dumbfounded expression on his face.

* * *

Klaus is not a patient man. He knows that, his family know that, people that fall victim to him one way or another know that. Patience is a virtue and he prides himself in being the opposite of all virtues.

But this particular personal trait of his has shaped his conception of time. Where his vampirism has made him immune and nonchalant to the way time flies, his impatience has shown him once and again how it _crawls_ -all over his skin and all through his body, dragging him down with his own dark thoughts and hidden demons.

He's felt it during the fifty years of the hunter's curse.

He felt it a few days ago, when he went back to his temporary residence only to find Rebekah's coffin gone save for a note that read 'it won't matter to you anyway whether she's sleeping here or at the bottom of the ocean' in its place, and the Bennett witch nowhere to be found.

He's feeling it now when Caroline has gone down for more than ten minutes and still hasn't emerged yet. He should have known that she was only exaggerating when she talked about 'supernatural speed' under water. Or the little mermaid was just playing him with their supposed deal and for all he knows she's probably halfway across the ocean by now.

He's cursing under his breath while taking off the shirt he just put on minutes ago when he hears the distinct thrashing of water. His eyes fly up to meet hers, half blocked by the coffin she's pushing, "finally. If I didn't know better I'd think you were stalling just to mess with me."

"Yeah well you didn't tell me you were doing a strip tease here. Could use a little incentive."

Her face is hidden behind the thick wood but he catches a hint of the unmistakable flush on her cheekbones. He's just about to comment on it when water floods his bare feet as she half throws the coffin onto the shore with a final push and a huff, "in case you haven't noticed, this coffin is pretty damn heavy." His eyes are fixed on the coffin, but he can practically hear the eye-roll from her voice, "and here I thought vampires are all skinny little bitches."

Klaus snorts, "don't let Rebekah hear you say that, love. She's not nearly as lenient as I am." He strokes the side of the coffin absently, his voice dropped to a whisper, "it's actually the wood. I used a very rare kind of timber with a special scent." It's how he has tracked the coffin here.

"You know, I'd be more touched if you were talking about a dress or something. And I'm pretty sure Rebekah feels the same way."

Her voice feels closer than ever and Klaus catches on that almost immediately. He looks up from the coffin to find her standing just beyond the shoreline, clad in a simple white dress. The sheer fabric clings to her wet body like second skin, accentuating every delicious curve. And those legs, those long, slender, creamy legs…it should be a crime to ever hide them under the magic of a fish tail.

Wait. Legs.

"You can shift at will?" Klaus squints at her puzzled. In his thousand years he's heard his fair share of rumors about mermaids. Hans Christian Anderson got one thing right-the ability to walk the earth always comes with a price.

Caroline approaches him slowly but steadily in the elegance of someone who's used to this form of transportation. She eventually stops at his side and nods her head, "yeah, pretty much." At his puzzled look she shrugs, "my mother was human. I'm kind of a hybrid. Like you."

He should feel offended at her feather-light tone. Like it's so easy to be different. Like it's a stroll in the grass to be the only one of a kind, to stand with each foot in a different circle but allowed entrance to neither, to be torn apart by clashing natures and still feel wanting. It should not be summarized in a mere shrug. It can't be.

Yet at the same time that tone quenches the flames of fury in his chest before they even burn hot. He's heard the word 'hybrid' uttered from so many mouths, always spit through clenched teeth like dirt, or hushed in the corner of the lips like a disease, but never like this. Like it's nothing short of…natural.

But Caroline doesn't seem to notice his look of amazement, "I mean, obviously I'm not as strong. You have those…like, extra heightened senses and strength, right? But the shifting part, I guess that's the same."

Klaus' heart skips a beat at that, and then starts running wild, zealously pumping dead blood into the farthest corner of his body to warm him from years of cold, as if for a moment it forgot that he was the most inhuman creature in this world. He takes a deep breath and reaches up, gently pushing a strand of blonde hair out of her face, "yes, I guess you are right, sweetheart."

Caroline shudders at his touch, her speech cut short by the unexpected gesture. Her eyes glances down for a second to where his fingers still lingers midair, and Klaus can feel the heat radiating from just under his hovering palm.

"So," her voice comes out a pitch higher, and Klaus, taking in her flushed complexion, retreats his hand with a smirk, "aren't you going to open it?" She places a hand lightly on the lid of the coffin.

Klaus reaches out to touch the coffin just beside her hand, his movement almost in slow motion in his supernaturally keen eyes. The coffin lies wet and cold in the night air, but it scorches his fingertips like the hottest iron-he can practically smell his burned flesh, withering, shriveling, even if it's all in his own head, "I can't even if I wanted to, sweetheart. I had it spelled."

She glances suspiciously at him and he feels an odd need to elaborate, "only a Bennett witch can open it with the aid of my own blood…" He gives the lid a slight push to demonstrate his point but the weird rustle the wood gives off immediately alarms him, "or the blood of one of my siblings."

He trails off as he realizes his glaring miscalculation. He's built in the blood part of the spell as a failsafe. But he should have known that blood magic is always tricky with unexpected loopholes and what bigger loophole than being tricked by his own blood. He pushes the lid fully open with his full force, the loud thud of the lidding hitting the ground muffled by his own enraged growl. Caroline jumps back startled at his outburst but he barely registers her, his eyes glued to the empty inside of the coffin.

They've ganged up on him. Played him like a fool.

That insolent Bennett girl…and his own sister.

He lets out a lupine bellow, throwing the coffin over and watches as it shatters into pieces of broken timber and crushed splinters. They can all do damage to his body, not fatal, but still hurtful-more than any sort of metal or poison that humans conjure up their ridiculous weapons with; but not more than betrayal. Never more than betrayal.

A voice cut through the blood red mist of fury blinding all his senses, but it still sounds so far away, and it takes Klaus several seconds before he understands her simple questions, "what's wrong? Where's your sister?"

The humorless sound of laughter cuts through his throat, "I think it's quite obvious, love. My dear sister, it would seem, has orchestrated her own _escape_." He grinds out the last word like biting flesh, tearing it out and severing it apart from the useless host body, leaving a gaping hole filled with unstoppable blood, "she left me a note. A bloody note to let me believe she's been kidnapped, when she clearly thinks I'm the kidnapper all along," his lips curl into a painful sneer, "the biggest and baddest of them all."

"You mean this was all a ruse? And your sister's run away of her own free will?"

He spins around to bark into her face, "that's what I've been saying, yes! Are you deaf?"

She balls up her fists and glares at him, "I know you are angry and all but I've given you no reason to treat me with rudeness. And seriously, can you really blame your sister? You put her into a nonconsensual coma! What are you, the evil queen? I've told you once and I'll tell you again-these fairytale plots really don't suit you, Klaus! Hell it's the 21st century, they don't suit anyone!"

Klaus clenches his teeth so hard his temples are throbbing with white hot fury. How dare she speak to him like this? This little mermaid girl, he can break her like a twig-how dare she judge his behavior with her too sharp a tongue and too defiant eyes? But he swallows his temper like he downs vervain, sweet and burning and coldly vengeful, and he bares his teeth in a lopsided grin, "well maybe you've got one thing right, sweetheart. No more fairytales indeed." His eyes flickers deadly and he sees Caroline shudder, "certainly no happily-ever-after for my little sister."

He's been after the doppelganger for five hundred years. He could spend an eternity on Rebekah if he has to. Immortality is their greatest weapon and downfall.

Caroline parts her lips like she's about to say something, but bites it in despite herself. She doesn't have to say it out loud though, he can see it all in her simmering eyes and guarded demeanor-that he's sick and disgusting, and that no one should bear the sentence of a life beside him.

When she does open her mouth she sounds oddly calm and collected, "whatever you do or not do, it's your choice. At the end of the day it's you that have to live with the consequences anyway." She ignores the hard tick of his jaw at that and crosses her arms in front of her chest, suddenly all business-like, "but first things first. When are you going to get me the Bennett witch?"

Klaus is still silently fuming about her backhanded comment so he throws her a sadistic smirk, "not so fast, love. Your part of the deal isn't done yet."

Caroline throws her hands in the air in frustration, "what? No way! You asked for the coffin and I got you the coffin! It's not my fault that it's empty."

"Well, you want the Bennett witch and it'd be my pleasure to introduce you to her. It's not my fault that she's probably with my sister, who I have every intention to find."

"Seriously? You're going with _that_?" she shrills incredulously, "god you are a childish, infuriating, manipulative, deceiving, shameless bastard!" With each accusing word she stomps closer to him until she's right in his face, the tip of her exquisitely pointy nose almost touching his, "you knew your witch's gone missing right from the start and you tricked me! At least you got to know your sister's safe and sound, probably sunbathing on some other beach where she won't see your sorry ass, while I gained literally nothing from this farce of a bargain."

"Then I guess you'll just have to come with me." The words are out of his mouth before he knows and both of them widens their eyes in surprise. But Klaus contains it well and licks his lips in well-tested seduction, "we'll find my sister, and of course, the witch. It'll be fun." He secretly bites his tongue because the last sentence rings too eager and foolish in his own ears, like something from the mouth of a high school student or some middle-aged simpleton without a life of their own.

And just like he expected, Caroline laughs indignantly in his face, but for different reasons, "are you out of your mind? What, I'm just supposed to blindly follow you into another one of your traps?" She huffs, gesturing wildly at the undulating waves behind them, "in case you didn't notice I have a life here!"

"A life of what exactly?" Klaus squints at her, a smirk half mocking and half curious hang at the corner of his lips, "collecting seashells? Chasing dolphins? Singing passing ships to doom?"

Anger flashes past her face and her eyes turns to a deeper shade of stormy blue-for that alone Klaus might consider riling her up some more just to memorize the striking color, "there's nothing wrong with good decoration and dolphins are extremely intelligent and friendly creatures! Hell they're certainly more humanly than you are. And don't you ever compare us to sirens! If you want to brag about your knowledge at least get the facts straight-god why am I still talking to you!"

She storms off with a roll of her eyes but Klaus catches her wrist before she's out of reach, "wait."

Caroline slowly turns around but says nothing, her lips pursed into a skeptical line. Klaus releases her hand, not without brushing the tender inside for a split second with his thumb first, "think of it as a trip, if you will." He dips his head somewhat bashfully and when he looks back up he has a boyish smile on his face, but the way he calls her name is so sinful the air between them buzzes with those syllables rolling off his tongue, "I can show you the world, Caroline."

He expects surprise tinged with excitement. He's offered a lot of things to women through the years, though not quite like the one he just presented to Caroline-jewelry, power, a night of abandon, his transient affection, or even vampirism-and no matter how well hidden, he always recognizes an adventurous heart when he sees one.

But he has slowly come to know that Caroline never plays into his expectations. She's actually trembling in fury, so angered her skin flushes pink, "why is everything a trade to you? I didn't fall for your stupid new deal so now you want to _buy_ me? Is this how you built your precious reputation, oh mighty king of the supernatural world?" She snorts derisively, her words cutting him to the weakest points like the most skillful sword fighter.

Her anger only seems to spur his own, "you were the one lurking in the background just waiting for a chance to take advantage of my predicament. So don't pretend that you are the innocent party in this or lecture me about my way of getting things done. I've had enough sanctimonious rubbish spurt in my face through my life and I can assure you I never take them lying down, never!" He forces the last words out in a snarl, his fangs uncontrollably filling his mouth, slicing open the inner side of his lips and he tastes his own blood, bitter and foul.

Caroline is silent after his outburst, but she doesn't walk away, just studying him with a slight furrow in her brows, a thousand thoughts brimming her eyes. Somehow it feels worse than if she turned her back on him. Klaus draws out the silence, bracing himself under her scrutiny-he may be intrigued by her, even likes her to some extent, but he isn't going to back down.

Eventually it's Caroline who breaks the silence, her tone surprisingly lack of her previous animosity, "you are right. I did want certain things from you and I held my abilities as a bargain chip. And maybe you are justified in your actions as you perceive it but I'm sorry, Klaus," she shakes her head infinitesimally, the ends of her blonde curls brushing her collarbone, "there are dangers that I won't surround myself with, you and your world being one of them."

Klaus sucks in a breath. She can't be clearer about her feelings than that and he feels like a mere human clawing at straws, but he has to try, "you are just going to give up like that? Come on, Caroline. At the end of the day, you and me, we both want our families back, in one form or another."

He's seducing her, or rather blackmailing her with the one thing that she doesn't have any defense over. And from the squint of her eyes and the piercing look that she's giving him, Caroline knows exactly what he's doing, "That may be so. But the different between us, Klaus, is that I didn't break the memory of my mom. You broke yours with your sister."

"Then help me fix it."

"What?" She's taken aback, probably expecting him to lash out at her harsh words. She's not the only one.

"Help me find my sister. And then maybe…maybe some new memories can be built over the ruins." For the first time in centuries, Klaus can't predict the effect of his own words, because he has no control over his voice, the flow of the words, the punctuation, his accent-they are all a jumbled mess, slipping away before he knows and hanging awkwardly in the air. He doesn't know if he sounds sincere or a downright charlatan. What he said wasn't a lie, but he doesn't believe in it either.

Caroline seems to see through his uncertainty though, and her eyes softens, her lips curling imperceptibly. It's wary and tentative, but it's still a smile. And then she gives a tiny nod and Klaus' heart soars, "okay. I'll help you, since you asked somewhat nicely." She suddenly pokes a finger at his chest, her tone now fierce, "but I want your word upfront that when we are done, you get me that Bennett witch immediately whatever the cost."

Klaus tries so hard to keep his face solemn but still earns a glare from Caroline, "you have my word."

"And the second you try any funny business I'm gone. 70% of the earth is covered in water, so I wouldn't bet on your chances of finding me."

Now he really can't reign in his laughter, "wouldn't dream of it, love."

"Well, now that our deal is renewed." Caroline clasps her hands, looking a little sheepish, "if you'll excuse me I'm going to go back down there real quick to grab my things for the trip."

Klaus furrow his brows. Although Caroline agreed on his terms, he doesn't feel too comfortable letting her out of his sight, "I'm sure whatever you need we can get on the road, sweetheart."

Caroline sighs, "look, I don't know what will happen during this quest of your sister and since you said your witch is probably with her, I thought I'd take the seashell with me just in case. It's no big deal, really."

"How do I know you won't just jump in there and never come back up?" Klaus tilts his head a little, taking in every slight twist in her expression, "as you so eloquently put this is after all, your 'turf'."

Caroline grins at him, her eyes meeting him directly boring into his with such challenge and mischief, "well then I guess you'll just have to trust me."

And with that she steps into the sea without a second glance at him, the tip of her glorious tail disappearing under water just when the morning sun jumps out, painting the whole ocean with burning colors and blinding light.

* * *

Caroline's head can't stop spinning. Fresh out of sea, she was whooshed to an airport at the crack of dawn and packed onto a private jet for the first time in her life, not that she had ever been on any planes before-and, oh, did she mention how she was transported to the airport? She was _whooshed_. Literally _whooshed_.

She squealed for a good fifteen seconds when Klaus started moving them in his vampire speed. The bastard laughed without even slowing down, his rich laughter blowing in the wind, probably just a ghost sound in the ears of the barely recognizable passers-by. He did have a nice laugh, she'll give him that.

The plane ride passed like a blur. She sat on every seat and bounced on the bed. She checked the bathroom. She played with all the gadgets prepared for the passengers and drank some champagne. She chatted with the pretty stewardess and was even invited to the cockpit for a short tour. She looked out of the windows _a lot_. The whole time Klaus just watched her with an amused look on his face, occasionally commenting on her interest of the moment, but Caroline was too excited to pay him much attention.

Caroline didn't know they'd come to Chicago until they landed. After that it was cab-hotel-cab (thank god no whooshing this time), Klaus guiding her without revealing much and her just following, trying to take it all in. It was all a little overwhelming to tell the truth.

And now she's standing in one of those high-end boutiques with racks and racks of clothes around her, and a really annoying salesgirl on her heels.

"We have the best night gowns in town." The salesgirl, Amy, says in a voice too saccharine for her liking, "what's the occasion exactly?"

Caroline doesn't answer, partly because she doesn't feel like interacting with Amy if not necessary, partly because Klaus hasn't filled her in on anything. He led her straight here, dropping some vague half-answers about there being a ball the next night and how she needed to dress accordingly. It infuriates her to no end not knowing anything, but Klaus can be so tight-lipped when he wants to be.

However Amy's question wasn't addressed to her at all. Caroline looked up to see her eyes focused on Klaus, who's lounging on a red sofa with his feet propped up on the coffee table in front of him. She rolls her eyes. He always acts like he owns the place, taking up as much room as possible if not with his physical presence, then with his overbearing attitude.

She feels slightly better when his eyes go right over Amy, landing on her face, his dimples flashing briefly, "just know this, sweetheart. Everyone worth meeting in this city will be there, and I want you to outshine them all."

Caroline blushes at that, her skin tingling just from the lilt of his words. It's crazy really-he's halfway across the room but she feels like he's crooning against her earlobe, which is now burning up as if spelled.

Unfortunately Amy's voice jumps right in to break the moment, "oh so it's quite formal then. Well apparently we have a lot of work to do, but I assure you we'll find just the things you need." She looks her up and down, "it'll be like a make-over! You'll look like a princess when you walk out of here."

Caroline bites her lips upon hearing her not-so-subtle hint about her appearance. She's changed out of her wrinkled white dress into T-shirts and shorts during their short stay at the hotel room. She kept it simple because she didn't exactly know what Klaus' plans were for the day. But Caroline hasn't been one to let people walk all over her, even with their faux-professional critiques and fake smiles.

She puts extra sweetness into her crisp voice to make sure it cuts, "oh, I don't know about that. Don't want my pretty new dress to go 'poof' after midnight. Good thing you don't have glass shoes here, though given how tacky everything seems to be I wouldn't be surprised if there actually are."

She hears Klaus' low laughter in the background, and in the corner of her eyes she sees Amy shooting daggers at her when she thinks she isn't looking. Both makes her feel exceedingly good about herself.

Her joy is short-lived, that's for sure. Amy keeps pointing her to dresses that are either too revealing or too flashy, with intimidating texture like heavy satin or layered embroidery that she knows will clash with her natural style. And the color choices, urgh. What is she, forty?

And Klaus isn't helping things much either. He just sits there with a mysterious smirk plastered on his face, like a less stuck-up but far more diabolical version of Mona Lisa. He doesn't always looks at them, playing away at his phone, but Caroline can swear he hears every word they are saying, because whenever she mutters another complaint under her breath she catches the corner of his delicious (did she think delicious?) lips go that much higher.

When Amy drags out yet another black-silver dress Caroline's had about enough. She snatches the poor choice from her arms and goes straight into the fitting room. If her words of rejection can't seem to make the girl see her point she'll just have to show it to her. The few minutes of respite away from Amy's nagging is just a bonus.

The dress is hideous like she predicted. The low-cut neckline stretching to her midriff doesn't flatter her breasts, instead it just makes her look too eager to please. And the lower half of the dress is even more of a disaster. The ball-gown style skirt is made from shiny silver satin and Caroline can almost see her own reflection from the puffy material, and she does _not_ want to see that right now, not in this pathetic excuse of a dress.

Caroline pushes the door open and storms out. Seeing as she's got the attention of Amy and Klaus she twirls around dramatically and then puts her hands on her hip, her voice dripping sarcasm, "well how do I look?"

Amy turns on her fake smile into full power, "very nice, Miss." She hesitates on purpose and Caroline can just see the evil glint in the corner of her eyes, "of course the dress is designed for someone…curvier, but I think the color scheme suits you quite well. I can fetch you something in the same selection that is a little more…modest."

Did she just insult her to her face?

Caroline openly glares at her this time but bites her tongue. She'll deal with Amy later. There's one more person whose reaction she would like to see and that person is now sauntering towards her, the casual yet sexy sway of his hips almost distracting Caroline from her bad mood.

Focus. She's fuming after all.

Klaus stops just in front of her, eyes roaming all over her. Caroline crosses her arms in front of her chest when he lingers there a little too long and prompts with a scowl, "well?"

"You look…stunning, sweetheart." He licks his lips in a straight face, but his eyes are full of mirth.

"Yeah people will be stunned all right." Caroline rolls her eyes, not at all amused with his amusement over this whole situation, "I look like a horny tin-woman."

"Again with the fairytale reference, love?" He's straining so hard not to laugh Caroline's actually afraid his face's going to burst at the seams any minute now, "and I thought you didn't like stories as old as time, little fish." His voice drops to whisper, sending shivers down her spine-and her over-exposes cleavage. How can he instantly go from puckish playful to steaming seductive?

Caroline shakes off the lingering effect of his voice and reaches a hand up to his collar bone. She traces his skin along his many necklaces, the touch of her fingertips light like feather, "never mind. If I actually take this dress we'll be sure to find you a matching tie. It'll be so shiny people are going to suspect you lick it every time they aren't watching, wolf-boy." She's whispering too now, her lips so close to his stubbled jaw line.

She feels rather than hears his sharp intake of breath, and she revels in a second of triumph. But then his hands are hovering over her waist, his fingers barely brushing the fabric of her dress and her skin burns under the heat they're radiating. She looks up into his intense blue eyes, and she doesn't know if she should feel disappointed or relieved that they are so stormy she can't see her own in there. Yet deep down she knows they are just as turbulent, if not more.

The moment she finds her eyes dropping to his luscious lips, Caroline pushes herself out of his arms, "lucky for you I'm deciding against it." She retreats into the fitting room as fast as she could, flushed and panicked. She looks up into the mirror, not recognizing the girl with red cheeks and heaving chest in there. And yep-her eyes are swirling with so many emotions she doesn't dare to look at them anymore. But when she closes them she sees another pair of blue eyes that are equally disconcerting.

When Caroline finally calms down enough to come out, Klaus is back to his previous seat, seemingly absorbed in his phone. She nixes anything close in style to the dress she just tried on and tunes out Amy's other recommendations, just wandering around in the store, not looking for anything in particular-in fact dresses are probably the least of her concerns right now.

But just then she turns a corner and there it is-the perfect dress staring back at her.

It's a long-sleeved lace gown in a light blue-grey tone. The neckline is high, but the see-through design can make sure that her collar bones are properly shown. Intricate lace patterns cling to the form till mid-thigh, where the skirt flairs out into flowy layers of chiffon in a lighter grey. Tiny pearls decorate the lower half of the skirt, shimmering subtly in the light, reminding her of the foams floating in the ocean waves.

Caroline gently touches the dress. It's soft as she thought. This is _the_ dress, she can tell.

She's about to take the dress off the rack when Amy hurries over, "oh, you don't want to go with that. Lace is too last-season and the style, well…it's a bit hard to manage for most people."

Caroline huffs a laugh, her anger getting more and more difficult to contain, "huh, is that so?"

"You can try this one on." Amy pushes a generic cream-colored dress into her arms, "it's elegant and chic, a head-turner for sure. Of course we'd have to find you the right shoes and style up your hair a bit, to suit the dress."

"Of course." Caroline squeezes the words out through the clench of her teeth. She glances at Klaus over Amy's shoulder. He's still busy with whatever he's been doing for the past hour, unaffected by the swiftly rising tension in this corner of the store.

"Is there a problem, Miss?"

Ok now Amy's just pushing her for no reason. _Is there a problem_? Let's see-she's god knows how many miles from home in a new city, alone with a stranger she has known for no more than half a day, who, by the way, is also the most powerful creature on earth according to himself. She's been through plane rides and car rides and hotel check-in during this short time span and she's expecting a major event as early as tomorrow. She's stressed out from all the exhaustion and excitement and pressure and sexual tension between her and the aforementioned dangerous demon incarnation, and yet she's stuck in this ridiculous store looking for a dress she needs in less than 24 hours with the most annoying salesgirl she's ever seen.

And the girl is _still talking_ , "I know you are probably new at this, Miss, but you can trust me. Your boyfriend clearly wants you to impress the crowd and not to brag, but I have enough experience in the business to help you fulfill that request."

That's it. She's done.

Caroline shoves the dress back to Amy and marches to the door, "take your elegant, chic dress. I don't need it. And I certainly don't need rude salesgirls with an attitude bossing me around telling me what _I_ want. I have someone for that. Me!" She whirls around with one foot out the door, pointing at Klaus who is just sensing the ongoing crisis, "and he's NOT my boyfriend!"

She's across the street when she hears Klaus calling her name, accompanied by quite a few jarring horns of cars. She doesn't look back. Isn't he immortal or something? If she actually gave a damn she'd be more worried about the cars anyway.

"Caroline." This time his voice is right beside her but she doesn't spare him a glance, nor does she slow down her steps in her aimless trek.

"Don't be like that, love." He bends down a little to breathe into her ear, his tone coaxing, "she's not worth it."

"Then it's a good thing my anger isn't directed at her." Well, not entirely.

She can hear his smirk even if she's not looking, "so you think I'm worth it."

"Don't flatter yourself." She rolls her eyes, unable to stop a little smile creeping up her lips, "and don't change the subject. You said you were taking me shopping and you threw me into that lion's den! Do you know how insufferable that girl is?"

Klaus chuckles and the sound goes straight to her belly, igniting a whole different fire inside her, "I'm aware. My sister Rebekah used to whine about her incompetence all the time when we last stayed here. But the quality of their dresses are above par apparently so she tolerated her."

"She compelled her, didn't she?" Caroline snorts, "I hate to admit it but vampire tricks do come in handy sometimes. Wait, you knew she was like that? And you still brought me there without a warning? You suck!"

To his credit Klaus actually looks sheepish, his eyes peeking at her from under his lashes, "I presumed you could hold your own. And you did."

She shouldn't be affected by the appreciation in his voice, but she can't help it. She can still pout a little though, "whatever you say I'm not going back in there. I don't care if I have to go to your mysterious ball naked."

"As much as I would like to witness that," Klaus gives her a dry look, "I'm willing to escort you to any establishment that you deem acceptable to make up for this dreadful experience."

"Really? Anywhere?" Caroline perks up at that.

Klaus shrugs with a little adorable smile dancing at the corner of his eyes, "well, preferably within the city boundaries. But if you insist on going somewhere not too far out of town it can be arranged."

"Oh no need to worry about that." Caroline waves him off with a devilish smirk, pointing to the building a few hundred yards from them, "I want to go there." She can't wait to see the look on his face.

Klaus doesn't disappoint. His eyebrows shoot right up to his hairline and his eyes widen to the extent you only ever see on a comic book character. It's hilarious.

"You want to shop at the _mall_?"

"You did say anywhere." She retorts innocently, too happy to notice that her arm winds up around his while she drags a horrified and reluctant Klaus down the road.

And shop at the mall they do. Caroline is having a blast, not just because she's actually having fun perusing the goods but because the look on Klaus' face. His countenance does _not_ go well with the décor of Forever 21. It's a pity she can't take a picture of his twisted expression when he's drowned in shopping-mode teenage girls. One of them even barks in his face, "hey, get out of the way, dude!" It's a real feat that she manages to drag him away while laughing so hard.

He's more than accommodating though. Caroline can tell how uncomfortable and annoyed he feels, but when she's trying on a pretty sundress with dolphins printed on it he smiles light-heartedly at the inside joke, and when asked he always gives an honest opinion. Caroline thinks it's quite gentlemanly and decides to cut him some slack.

"I'm going to take a look at the accessories section. But I saw a cart selling ice-cream cones when we came in here so…will you wait for me outside?" She laughs at his I'm-trying-not-to-look-too-eager nod and turns away, throwing one last word over her shoulder, "strawberry!"

It turns out Klaus with an ice-cream cone in his hand is as funny a scene as any. Especially when that cone is pink. He's sitting on a bench waiting for her, so she drops down next to him with a contented sigh, taking the ice-cream cone he hands over.

"No purchases?" Klaus lifts his eyebrows. He's left his credit card with her.

Caroline gives the ice-cream a long lick and hums. It's not every day she gets one of these back home. "I had enough fun. Shopping is so much more than just buying things, a concept I don't think you can grasp any time soon."

Klaus doesn't reply right away, which is odd because he always have a smart comeback to make sure he 'wins' the conversation. He's such a child sometimes.

Caroline looks up in between licks to find him staring at her, his lips slightly parted. The look in his eyes makes her skin buzz with unknown heat and excitement, the pace of her heartbeats more and more frantic as her own eyes glue to his. She feels hypnotized, and for a moment she thinks of the possibility that he's somehow compelling her against nature's rules, but the anticipation bursting from every one of her cells tells her otherwise.

She'd feel numb if she's compelled, paralyzed, like a puppet. But instead she's never felt so alive. The blue of his eyes draws her in like the call of the ocean, and she just wants to dive in without a second thought, closer and closer and closer…

Something cold suddenly drops on her hand, startling her out of the trance, and Caroline looks down, breaking their eye contact. She hears Klaus mumbling something about a phone call, then feels him standing up, walking several steps away from her.

The ice-cream's melting-that's what dropped on her hand. She hurries to stuff the cold, silky sweetness into her mouth, the fresh scent of strawberry filling her system, blending with his distinct scent of cologne that she didn't notice inhaling.

She wonders if the burning heat surging through her body seconds ago was what caused the ice-cream to melt so quickly.

* * *

He doesn't see her immediately when he enters their penthouse suite. Pushing down the momentary panic and suspicion, Klaus focuses on the sounds around him and catches Caroline's soft humming from deep inside.

He finds her lounging in the little swimming pool on the balcony in a tank top, her bluish silver tail swaying idly in the water. The image makes him smile-Caroline is, and probably will be the only mermaid he sees in a tank top. "I see you've found the best feature of this suite." He walks over to sit beside where she rests her head on the edge of the pool.

She opens her eyes and grins so brightly up at him, "I guess I have you to thank for this."

Klaus tilts his head a little, feeling embarrassed all of a sudden, "well, I thought it'd be nice to stretch your tail after a long day."

Caroline laughs, turning around so she's facing the outside of the balcony, her arms propped on the edge of the pool, "either you are a natural flirt with many, many years of experience with many, many women," she makes a face at that, "or you are actually a big softie deep inside. Which one is it?"

The color of the clear pool water brings out her eyes and the city lights glow in them. Klaus smiles somewhat absently, his heart uneasy. He can't remember if anyone's looked at him that way. Teasing, humorous, yet with so much wonder and, dare he say, trust. Did Rebekah once look at him like this? Did any of those women he encountered in his thousand years? He tucks a stray curl slipping from her loose bun behind her ear, "better leave that mystery for you to discover, sweetheart."

Caroline smirks knowingly, "you're just afraid you won't like what I find out."

Klaus hums noncommittally as a response, ready to escape this line of converse. He pushes a shopping bag in front of her, "I believe you are still a ball gown short." He gestures for her to open it, "a mermaid dress for a mermaid. It's only fitting."

Caroline sticks her head into the bag for a second, then lifts an eyebrow at him, "so that's what you went out for." Klaus dropped Caroline back at the hotel after a quick dinner and was off alone, claiming he had to 'fix something', "what happened to Amy?"

"Amy who?"

Caroline gives him a dry look, "don't play dumb."

Klaus concedes with a nonchalant smile, "she's alive, if that's what you are asking." She'll be weak for a few days from the loss of blood and never able to treat her customers inappropriately ever again under his compulsion, but other than that she's perfectly fine.

"I said vampire tricks could come in handy sometimes." Caroline snorts, pushing the bag out of the way, "thank you for the dress though. It was love at sight." Her eyes meet his and her breath hitches, realizing what she just said.

"You do have very good taste." Klaus keeps her eyes a little longer until she breaks away with flushed cheeks.

She looks at the shining lights around and below them before she speaks again, her voice quiet, "I've never seen this kind of view before. It's very beautiful."

He follows her eyes to a night time Chicago ignited by thousands of electric lights, trying to tune out his own memories from different time periods to look at it through her fresh eyes, like seeing it for the first time. It does look splendid. "I should take you to Paris. There's nowhere in the world like Paris at night."

"The city of love? Really?" Caroline giggles, shaking her head, "that's a little cliché even for you."

"Clichés are cliché for a reason." Klaus counters, "and clichés might not be so cliché if you know where to look."

"Are you saying things in riddles just to impress people?" Caroline taps her index finger on the tile, "or it's just a habit since you're from centuries ago when everyone talked like that?"

Klaus smirks, glancing at her from the corner of his eyes, "You seem to have a lot of questions about me, love."

"I do."

Klaus considers for a while. The weather's mellow and he's in a fairly good mood. He'll just indulge her curiosity for a bit, satisfying his own in the process. "You have three chances. Pick your questions wisely."

"And you promise to answer them honestly?" Caroline is fully facing him now, the tip of her tail involuntarily sending ripples to the surface of the water in anticipation.

"I promise to give you an answer. Whether it's the truth or not you'll just have to decide for yourself." He turns around to catch her nod with a challenging look on her face. Klaus grins inwardly-he always likes a good deal.

"When did you last get in touch with your Bennett witch?"

"Personally it was when I ordered her to seal my sister's coffin, shortly after she completed the ritual to break my curse under my request. But I suspect it was her who left me the note telling me my sister was dumped into the ocean, so technically that was the last time we got in touch."

"What are we doing at the ball tomorrow night?"

"One of the witches in town-Gloria is her name-was close to my sister when we were here in the 20s. I need you to find out if she knows anything about Rebekah's whereabouts."

"Why did you put your sister in a coffin?"

Klaus paused. He glares at Caroline hard in the eyes, but she isn't backing down. He inhales deeply before opening his mouth, his tone turning stone cold, "to break my curse and free my wolf side I needed to drain the blood of a doppelgänger, in this case, a girl named Elena-I'd been searching for her for the last five hundred years. But the witch who cursed me built in a failsafe. Without her human blood I cannot make other wolves into hybrids like myself."

He looks briefly at her. She's a natural-born hybrid, just like him-no, not like him. He was forced into an anomaly by his own parents.

"We accidentally found out about the failsafe in one of the witch's grimoires. I even found a way to drain the doppelgänger without killing her." Klaus clenches his jaw, the acidity of betrayal fresh on his heart, "but Rebekah gave Elena her own blood just before the ritual, thus turning her into a vampire. She fled."

To this day he doesn't know the exact reason why Rebekah went behind his back, when she'd been helping him close at his side for the last thousand years-he was too consumed with rage to listen to her explanations before he daggered her. Elena must have got through to her somehow with her cheap words, just like the last doppelgänger did with his now estranged brother-they always had a way with manipulating people.

Caroline's voice brings him out of his vicious thoughts on how he would torture the two running doppelgängers once he gets his hands on them, "you do know what you did was wrong, right?"

"Which part?" Klaus shrugs, not exactly liking where she's going. He doesn't need her judgment, along with everyone else's.

Caroline grimaces, "um, like, which part wasn't? From what I gathered, you forced the witch to do your biddings with whatever threat you threw out; you killed an innocent for personal gain in a way I'm sure wasn't pleasant or peaceful; you were going to continue to use said innocent, possibly for the rest of her life; and you took your own sister's life-temporarily, but still-when she helped her. And that's just the brief version."

Klaus keeps his face closed, a taunting smile forming slowly, "brilliant, you've read the charges. What's the verdict then?"

"I'm not the judge, Klaus." Caroline pushes a few stray curls out of her eyes, her voice rising, "and you don't get to put yourself on the defense. Your actions ruined people's lives. The least you could do is admit to it, and try to do better next time."

"There won't be a next time." Klaus clenches his fists, "I will never let myself be weakened and parted from my true nature ever again! And if anyone gets in my way, they are going to rue the day they were born. I will make sure of it."

Caroline throws her arms in the air, her eyes widening incredulously, "you keep saying you are the most powerful creature on earth, blablabla, and yet you drive yourself crazy assuming everyone's out to get you. Well news flash, Klaus, they aren't! They are busy living their own lives until you insert yourself into their paths and make enemies out of them!"

"Careful, love." Klaus catches her wrist in a vice grip, leaning into her menacingly, "were you referring to yourself there? You'd do well to remember I don't treat my enemies with mercy."

Caroline instinctively flinches under his stare, struggling to break free from his hold. When she can't manage to do that, however, she huffs, pushing her hand that he's holding in his face, "you see what I mean? I was just talking, generally. I wasn't referring or implying anything! God you are frustrating. You were under one curse! Which you've already broken! Why are you being like this?"

"You don't know what it's like to go through that curse! To constantly live in pain and shame, to feel a part of yourself was missing, to know you would never live up to your potential that you were born with." Klaus drops her hand, his chest heaving, "you don't' know anything."

"What if I do?" Caroline rubs her wrist where a slight bruise is showing, not looking at him. Klaus closes his eyes at the scene-again his hot temper got to him.

"What do you mean?"

Caroline takes in a deep breath before answering, her voice strained and quiet, "my dad tried to bind my human side once. He almost succeeded."

Klaus bites his lips hard. He didn't expect that. Caroline seems like someone who's never been tainted from the darker sides of the world. "How did that happen?"

"It was kind of ridiculous in retrospect." Caroline shakes her head, letting out a laugh without much humor. Klaus notices her tail curling in on herself-must be a sign of distress, he files that information in his head.

"I met this boy, Tyler. Don't." She gives him a look before he can say anything, "anyway he persuaded me to elope with him. Said he's tired of always hanging out around the beach. My dad was beyond furious. He asked the shaman to get rid of my human side so I could never walk on land again. It was so painful." She shudders from the terrible memory, and Klaus can't help gently squeezing her shoulder. He knows exactly how that feels.

"I was struggling so hard my tail accidentally swept that seashell with my mom's voice in it. It broke, and I guess my dad was shaken out of his haze or something. The ritual was stopped. But for a moment there I really thought I was going to lose that part of myself forever and it was awful."

Klaus doesn't dwell on that. He's had enough reenacting of his fateful day for one night. Instead he prompts her to go on with the story, "what happened then?"

Caroline smiles wryly, "I talked to my dad and we made up. I talked to Tyler and broke up with him. I've been living on my own since." Klaus nods silently. He of all people should know that some wounds can never be healed fully. Or does he? What about the daggers he put through his siblings' hearts? They are vampires. They don't scar. But the hurt, does it ever really go away?

As if reading his thoughts, Caroline explains, "what hurt the most was that they both tried to take the choices away from me. _My_ choices." She finally looks up at him, her eyes sharp yet understanding-how can that be? How can a blade ameliorate a wound? "Like you did with your witch, and Elena, and your sister. Like whoever it was did with you."

Klaus sucks in a breath, his heart contorting in emotions he can't recognize, "it's not that simple."

"Maybe it's not." Caroline nods to his surprise, but her eyes are still penetrating, "or maybe you chose for it not to be. Which one is it, Klaus?"

"I'm afraid you've used up all your questions, love." His eyes glint as a smile softens the lines around them.

Caroline has the similar gleam to her eyes, "really? I've lost track." She turns her head, once again facing the city lit up by lights, a mirage extending for miles, warmed up by the false promises of returning and belonging.

"It's kind of like deep in the ocean if you look long enough." Caroline folds her arms on the tiles and lies her face on the back of her hand, dreamy and wondering like a child, "all the darkness and the twinkling lights breaking through. When I was young I used to ask my dad why those fish were glowing-a lot of them can't even see, you know? I asked him if they were afraid of the dark."

She giggles and it's the most beautiful thing Klaus' ever heard. All the lights out there and this is what brightens his heart. He hums with her words, finding himself fascinated with her words and her little smile.

"Turns out they were luring-preys, mates, codependent living partners, whatever helped them survive in the nothingness. But I think they are just lonely."

Klaus stares at her, something pinching at his heart. Sweet and sour, it stings and it swells. "And which one are you, Caroline?" Lonely, or afraid of the dark?

She turns back to him, a thousand thoughts mixing with a thousand lights in her blue orbs, "I don't remember giving you free questions."

Klaus leans closer towards her gaze, letting her scent fill his senses, permeate his being, "really? I've lost track. Must be late then." He inches closer still, till his scorching lips are pressed to her forehead, "goodnight Caroline."

And he's gone in a flash, as quietly as he came.

* * *

"Do your feet hurt?" Klaus watches her fidgeting, a teasing smile on his face, his dimples in full presence.

Damn his dimples. Caroline is on edge as it is, she doesn't need the unnecessary distraction. "No more than other girls with their feet in four-inch heels." She hisses under her breath, "and enough with the little mermaid jokes already! It was a sad story that you shouldn't be making fun of in the first place. And I'm just nervous."

"There's no need to be, love." Klaus soothes her, although she can still hear the amusement in his low voice. He takes two champagnes from a waiter passing by and hand one to her, "here, to calm your nerves. Just remember what we rehearsed: approach her, make small talk, casually mention you are an acquaintance of Rebekah's, ask her if she's seen her, and when she denies which she most certainly will, leave her. You'll be fine."

"Yeah, easy for you to say, _immortal_." Caroline takes a big sip out of the glass, feeling her racing heart calm a little, "last I checked she's a witch. What if she decides to just hex me and make me drop dead from a heart attack? The police won't even be able to trace back to her!"

Klaus rolls his eyes at her theatrics, "this is a supernatural gathering, sweetheart. If anything you'd be buried silently without a tombstone."

"You are _not helping_!" Caroline yells at him as loudly as she could under the circumstances, which, sadly, is not much better than a whisper and is not releasing her of any pent-up frustration.

Klaus merely chuckles at the daggers she throws him with her eyes. Seriously, the skin of that man. They've arrived at the garish ball aka their crime-scene-to-be for a good half an hour and their target has yet to shown, but all he's done is teasing her paired with the occasional googly eyes-alright the latter half isn't so bad but the timing can't be more wrong. They are in the middle of a deadly operation here!

"Nothing's going to happen, Caroline. I promise you." Klaus reassures her, his voice wrapping around her like a safety blanket somehow, "I'll be in the same room, listening in just in case. Vampire hearing, remember?"

Caroline downs the last of her drinking, feigning unaffected, "you are just really nosy and controlling. You'll be eavesdropping even if I tell you not to."

"Well, it is _my_ plan, isn't it, love?" Klaus takes her empty glass, putting it aside with his own, "but since our target is currently nowhere in sight, I don't see why we can't enjoy this fine evening." He bows gracefully to her with a roguish smirk, looking at her from under his lashes, "lovely Miss Caroline, may I have the honor of a dance?"

A deep blush rises above her neck as Caroline looks frantically around, her eyes on anything and anyone around but him, "are you crazy? We're on a secret mission! What if she comes in while we're dancing?"

"Then we keep dancing." Klaus sighs, a little exasperated, "stop fretting, sweetheart, and take my hand." He wriggles his eyebrows, "just one dance."

"Fine." She puts her hand into his out-stretched one and electricity goes right through her, making her insides tingle. Caroline gasps and tries to pull back, but Klaus holds on to her tightly, leading her to the dance floor.

They fall into step with each other easily. His hand on her lower back radiating immense heat and energy, and everything around them-the people, the whispering and laughing, the music, the colors of lavish gowns and the mixed scents of perfumes, the crystal lights of the chandeliers-everything swirls in her peripheral, revolving around them like a small universe, but all she can feel in the center where the gravity pulls all of this together is his fiery touch on her skin, and the intense look in his eyes.

"A good call pulling you to the dance floor." Klaus smirks, "or that beautiful dress would just go to waste blending in with the walls."

Caroline snorts at that, "seriously, how big is your ego? Even when complimenting me you can't help throwing in a little pat-on-the-shoulder for yourself."

Klaus chuckles, the vibration of his chest rippling to where his hand touches her waist and she shivers imperceptibly, "no more talking about me then." He clears his throat, "if I haven't told you already you look ravishing in that dress."

"Thanks." She blushes, but can't stop herself from preening just a bit, "but you did tell me."

She can still remember how his eyes widened and his mouth hung open when he came back to the hotel suite at dusk after out 'running errands' for a whole day. He looked perfect himself in his grey tux and a bow tie the exact same shade as her dress, but his eyes were fixed on her like she's more of a view than the sunset behind her. He'd approached her almost reverently and held her hand up with a gentle questioning look. It was such an old-fashioned manner Caroline could only nod.

His lips on the back of her hand were hot just like the night before, and Caroline felt her heart hovering precariously over where their skin touched, skipping beats and beats as he stayed still.

When he finally straightened up they were both out of breath. He'd complimented her on her look then, his voice raspy, "cities could fall at your feet, Caroline."

Klaus' voice from present time pulls her back from her reverie, "then it must be something worth repeating." She's starting to think that the blush on her cheeks won't go away for the rest of the evening.

"You know, I didn't peg you as a dancer." Caroline decides to clear the mood a bit, going for something lighter, "you seem more like the looming-in-the-corner-and-plotting type."

"You pick up a thing or two when you've been in this world long enough." Klaus dips her dramatically, making her quietly squeal and giggle, "and, what can I say, I enjoy the attention too much."

True to his words, she can feel half of the room's eyes on them. Because of how good they dance together or because he's the infamous Klaus, that Caroline can't tell. She tries to ignore them the best she could-she has to appear normal for their mission at hand, "don't tell me you were there when Waltz was invented."

"I can't say I was. These things don't happen in the blink of an eye, love. They progress through time. But I did witness it when it was still in its nascent form. My family and I, we were still in Europe around that time period, in Bavaria." Klaus smiles in nostalgia, "Rebekah was the one who discovered it, actually. She used to sneak to our servants' ball to have a taste of their 'Walzer'. It was quite scandalous for a noblewoman but Rebekah was always reckless like that."

"You are one to talk." Caroline quirks an eyebrow, intrigued by the story and this side of Klaus, "you went with her, didn't you?"

"The lady needed an escort after all. And a dance partner." Klaus suddenly pulls her close until their chests touch and their breaths blend in a wave of heat, "these kind of moves you can't share with just anyone."

Caroline's throat feels dry like she's been trudging through the desert for weeks. The friction between their clothes tickles her heart and all her nerve endings seem hyper-sensitive with their close proximity. She pulls back a little to put distance between them, instantly feeling the loss. "Sounds like a lot of fun. With Rebekah, I mean. You did have happy moments when you were together, didn't you?"

Klaus looks down for a moment, his lashes forming entrancing shadows on his cheek, "a thousand years alongside each other, it would be hard not to." He looks back up at her, a set in his jaw and a harsh light to his eyes, "however, like every one of us, those shining moments were tainted and deformed. For each drop of happiness there's a sea of hurt and hatred to go with it."

Caroline bites her tongue. If it's up to her she'd like to lecture Klaus on the topic for a good hour until he gets his self-pitying head out of his very delectable ass, but again-they have work to do. It's neither the time nor the place. So she decides against pushing for now, but a little roundabout comment-that she can't resist, "she seems an interesting girl, your sister. Hot-headed like you for sure, but apparently brave enough to stand up to you and tolerant enough to stay with you for all those years. And a good dancer."

Klaus smiles but is doesn't quite reach his eyes, "I'm sure you'll like her when you do meet her." He twirls her one last time as the music comes to a halt, and she sees in the corner of her eyes a black woman in a red dress entering, "and there's our ticket to Rebekah."

Caroline swallows as she stares at the woman from across the room. So that's Gloria.

* * *

Caroline slowly approaches Gloria at the bar. The woman looks radiating in her form-fitting red sheath gown, sipping the absinthe that she just got from the bartender. She appears in her mid-forties but witches are known to slow down their aging with magic and if she was present when Klaus and Rebekah were last here, then she's probably older than she looks.

But exactly how old-and how powerful-can she be? Caroline doesn't know. She also doesn't know how to talk to someone who drinks absinthe. Why didn't Klaus prep her more thoroughly? She looks around the room where Klaus has already disappeared into thin air apparently, and sends a glare to no one in general. He'll get it.

She inhales deeply and perches on the bar just beside Gloria, asking for a Margarita. While waiting for her drink she fans herself a little around the neck, and smiles at Gloria when their eyes 'casually' meet, "it's hot in here, isn't it?"

Gloria shrugs noncommittally, giving no verbal reply. Okay, tough crowd.

"You'd think with so many supernatural beings here with more power than they can wield, they'd at least turn the AC up a bit stronger." Caroline proceeds with her whiniest voice, "I don't know why I came here in the first place."

"Why _did_ you come then?" Gloria gives her a piercing look.

"Well I was bored." Caroline pouts, "I don't get all the hype about Chicago, really. I went shopping yesterday and let me tell you, it was not a pleasant experience. The salesgirl knew nothing about her job and was downright annoying. Nice dress by the way."

Gloria studies her for a second before she answers guardedly, "thank you."

"Where did you get it?" Her drink's up and Caroline takes a sip before continuing her charade.

"It's an old gift." Gloria smirks and Caroline can swear she drawls the word 'old' longer than necessary.

"Pity." She says flippantly, "I was seriously considering finding a new place to shop after what I've been through yesterday. It was my friend Rebekah who recommended it to me, actually. I don't know how she could stand that salesgirl. So rude."

Gloria's eyes flicker at the mention of Rebekah's name and Caroline ploughs forward, "do you know her? Rebekah? She told me she'd been here for quite a while back in the day."

Gloria scrutinizes Caroline with a hard look, sending a chill down her spine, "our paths have crossed, yes. But I wouldn't say I know her."

"Well who does?" Caroline snorts, "that girl's whimsical as hell. One minute she's all besties with me, sharing gossips and boy talk, and the next minute she just disappears! Can you believe it? What kind of friend does that?" She takes another sip of her Margarita, using the buzz from the alcohol as momentum to broach the subject, "if you've seen her recently you've got to tell me. She owes me at least one drink and a manicure."

"That depends." Gloria puts her empty glass down on the counter, "are you asking on your behalf, or Klaus'?" Surprise mush have shown on her face because Gloria raises her eyebrows mockingly, "you two were quite cozy there on the dance floor. It was hard to miss."

Caroline's heart is racing wildly but she has to keep up the appearance, "I'm merely asking as a friend. Klaus is angry with his sister right now, I don't think he wants to see her face for the next century. He's petty that way."

 _Klaus, if you're listening in as you promised, I'm not sorry._

She doesn't know about Klaus, but Gloria seems to share her humor, who huffs a laugh at her words, "you are not wrong about that." She crosses her arms in front of her chest, "which is why I don't plan to get involved with him or his. So if you'll excuse me."

Caroline wants so bad to shout at her retreating back that she's not Klaus', but her mission went well overall and she's not about to sabotage it for a meaningless comment.

"Well done, sweetheart."

She jumps at the voice beside her ear and almost spills her drink over her precious dress. She whips around, hissing at a grinning Klaus, "seriously? Can't you just walk up to me like a normal person?"

"But where's the fun in that?" Klaus is still grinning like the big baby that he is and Caroline rolls her eyes at him.

"Now what?"

"Now we prey." His grin turns wolfish as he silently leads her to a corridor without anyone noticing. There, standing beside an open window, his arm winds firmly around her waist and he whispers against her ear, "be quiet and hold on, love."

And before the words sink in she's halfway out the window with buildings zooming past her, their fleeting images dissolving into the wind faster than she can register. She has no choice but to grab at the lapels of his tux, bracing herself against his sturdy arm and hypnotizing scent of forest and champagne.

Sooner than expected they come to a stop on the roof of a house with maybe two or three stories. He crouches low and pulls her down with him. Thanks to the streetlights below them they are shrouded completely by dark shadows. Caroline carefully glances around and finds the lit-up top of the house where the ball is being held. They are already several blocks away.

"What are we doing here?" She whispers in Klaus' ear. He gently shushes her and points down at the end of the street. Caroline squints but nothing's there. Klaus must have heard something with his vampire senses.

The answer rounds the corner in a second. Gloria stealthily steps into the street, the click of her heels so light they're almost lost in Caroline's ears. She's wary and wound up, constantly glancing behind her shoulder as she approaches the house they're on top of. She stops at the door and knocks quietly, twice short and once long. Half a minute later the door opens, but Caroline can't see the person inside from her stand point, nor can she hear the words being whispered in a hush between the two.

She glances sideways at Klaus, whose face seems intense and focused, clearly taking every word of the conversation in. Normally she hates not in the know. It makes her anxious to have so little control over the situation and her lips itches from wanting to ask Klaus what's going on. Suddenly his hand reaches over to grab hers, his thumb rubbing soothing circles around her knuckles. Her heart flutters as she turns to him, and he mouths 'later' to her with a fond look.

His head abruptly whips around. Caroline follows his eyes to see a short guy stepping out and shutting the door. Without a further word, he and Gloria starts in opposite directions and are soon around either corners of the street. She's wondering who they will follow next (or should they split up this time?) when Klaus' breath is hot on her earlobe, "stay here. Don't make a sound. I'll be right back."

And then of course he whooshes off. Caroline straightens up with a huff. She's really getting tired of all these vampire abilities. If only they were in the ocean-she'd show him what's fast and furious. At least she got the message that he was going after the short guy from the wind in his wake, she thinks to herself, unamused.

Out of the blue a searing pain penetrates her head and she can't stop the scream of agony escaping her lips. As she drops down to the roof tiles she pries her eyes open with all her will power, getting a glimpse of red down in the street, but then it blurs into darkness and all she can feel is the excruciating pain in her brain.

Seconds pass or maybe it's hours, and she feels hands around her shoulders, trying to hold her up. She struggles weakly against them, but stops when she hears his voice, "it's okay. It's me. Caroline," he cradles her in his arms and leans her head on his shoulder, "tell me what's wrong."

"Klaus," she croaks out, fear settling in, "it hurts. My head hurts. And I can't see."

She hears him curse harshly under his breath, but his hand brushing away the hair from her face are gentle like the breeze, "the old hag, she gave you an aneurysm. Must have thought you were one of us."

She can't make sense of his words. The pain is numbing her brain and she can feel herself beginning to fade into a deeper darkness. Something is pushed to her lips and his frantic voice is muffled by the haze clouding her, but she can still hear him, "drink, Caroline. Drink. It'll heal you."

She opens her mouth and lets the liquid trickle down her throat. It's warm with a rustic taste, making her cough in discomfort but he just holds her closer, urging her on, "that's it. Take it all in. Good girl."

Slowly Caroline regains her senses, and realizes it's his hand caressing her hair and his blood in her mouth. The pain is completely gone, so she releases his wrist and pushes out of his arms, tentatively sitting up by herself.

"How are you feeling?" Klaus hovers over her, worry etched into his features, "are you sure you don't need more of my blood?"

"I'm fine, just a bit tired." Caroline manages a little wobbly smile, still shaken up by the sudden turn of events, "but I think I'm good for now. Thank you."

Klaus shakes his head, "I shouldn't have left you alone. Gloria went too far this time." He has a murderous look on his face, venom dripping from his tone, "she should know better than to touch you. Not a century away and already she forgets what I'm capable of. I'm going to-"

"Klaus." Caroline cuts him off with a stern look, not in the mood to hear his threats. He relents under her stare, huffing and turning away. "Did you get to that man?"

Klaus sighs, "I'll get to him later. Now let's get you out of here." He holds out his arms and again gives Caroline a questioning look and she nods. One more vampire ride won't hurt. He sets her safely in his arms and jumps into the dark night.

By the time they arrive at the hotel Caroline feels rejuvenated, pretty much back to her usual self. She drops down to the giant sofa in the living room when they enters their suite, letting out a sigh of relief, "what a night." She went to a ball, danced with the original hybrid, talked to a really old witch, did some spying, and almost died from a curse that popped the blood vessels in her brain. More eventful than a year under the sea.

Klaus sits down next to her, leaning his head back on the top of the sofa, "yeah. Are you sure you are alright, sweetheart?"

"For the hundredth time, I'm fine." Caroline throws her head back a little exasperatedly, "your blood wasn't all that tasty," she makes a face, "but it does the trick."

Klaus laughs, loosing his bow tie, "glad to be of service."

"Are you going after that guy? The one that ran away? Do you think he's a contact of your sister's?" Now that her strength is back, Caroline's mind is working at full speed, recalling all the details she gathered through the evening and connecting the dots.

"Don't worry yourself with that, love." Klaus says distractedly, "I have a plan."

"Which is…?"

"Which is for you to sit tight, and for me to get some clues."

"No way. Uh-uh. You're not leaving me out of it this time." Caroline straightens up in her seat and whirls around at him, her temper suddenly rising, "wherever you are going to get those 'clues', you are taking me with you."

Klaus sits up to face her, his brows furrowed in a frustrated knot, "You saw what happened tonight, Caroline. You are strong and all, but I'm afraid your prowess won't be of much use here on land. It's dangerous."

" _You're_ dangerous!" Caroline raises her voice, the fright and nerves of the whole night taking its toll, driving her emotions to the extreme, "You insisted that I come away with you. You involve me in a plan that I know little to nothing of. You even used me as bait with Gloria at the ball, didn't you? You wanted to get her alarmed but you didn't want to scare her off, so you put me to it. Why didn't you just say so?"

Klaus' voice is restrained as he stands up and paces to the liquor cabinet, "it's been a long night. I think you should get some rest."

"That's it? You are dismissing me?" Caroline stalks angrily after him, "well tough luck, mister. I'm not done here."

Klaus pulls out a decanter and pours the amber liquid in a glass, downing it in one go, "well I am. Seems like we are at an impasse."

Caroline puts her hands on her hips and glares at him, "tell me what your next move is and take me with you."

Klaus throws the glass on the counter with a heavy thud, "you almost died tonight, Caroline! I will not put you in another perilous situation, not on my watch!"

Caroline can see the fear deep behind his outburst but she's too worked up to care, "you put me in a perilous situation when you dragged me from home! It's too late to change your mind now. The least you could do is let me in on your secretive plotting, which by the way, may not even be that smart because your judgments are no doubt clouded by your ginormous ego!"

"Well I don't know about before but now they are certainly clouded, by your incessant nagging." Klaus bites out, the vessels along his neck standing out and pulsing from anger and Caroline has the sudden urge to lick it-or to jab a pen in it, whichever comes first. Her body feels so hot from all the yelling but she wants to get it hotter by pressing against his rigid back and just-

"Argh I'm so angry at you right now!" She stomps her foot but the loud sound can't seem to cover the hoarse tremble lined behind the words.

Klaus, obviously picking up on the subtle change in her voice, swallows involuntarily, his Adam's apple bobbing in the most arousing way. He eyes her long and slow, and heat accumulates in her lower belly under that look, making her palms sweat and her breath hitch. "Don't even think about what you are thinking right now!" She manages to find her voice.

"And what am I thinking?" Klaus croons, his voice flowing through her like burning lava.

He's so aggravating like this, tempting her and drawing her in with his trap-like words and silky voice that she's sure he perfected through all his years of living (or death, semantics). He thinks he's got it all figured out, the luring and chasing and all those convoluted moves of a dance to kill. But Caroline will not fall prey to his predator.

The renewed anger somehow clears her lust-muddled head and Caroline pins Klaus in a taunting look, "Let me spell it out for you. I'm angry, not angry 'horny', not angry 'I want to jump your bones and maybe scratch you and bite you in the process', it's angry 'I want to punch you so hard in the guts your dick scares to death from just watching'."

Klaus visibly flinches from the image and Caroline smiles triumphantly, "now, where were we? Oh right, your plan."

"Plans are not meant to be told, sweetheart." Klaus sighs, worn out from her stubbornness.

"Well like it or not, we are a team now. And as a team we should work together. Do you know how to work together with people Klaus? You share information and move as one." She ignores his exaggerated eye-roll, "What does it hurt to clue me in? Maybe I can help." She holds his gaze, letting the sincerity bleed through.

"What if I tell you that I plan to kiss you?" Klaus blurts out and they both freeze. His startled look soon turns to dangerous and smoldering, "I've been planning it since we left that bloody shore."

It's he who's holding her gaze now, almost glaring, daring her to turn away. Caroline stalks towards him and his eyelashes trembles uncontrollably every time her foot sets on the ground. When she's close enough Caroline reaches up and cups his clenched jaw with both of her hands. He tries to turn his face to the side, evading her touch, but Caroline's fingers coaxes him to stay still. She stares into his eyes and gives him a questioning look, but he's too stubborn or too scared or maybe a little dumb he don't seem to understand, his eyes wary and unrevealing. So Caroline puts her question on her lips and presses it to his.

His lips are soft and warm but Caroline retreats quickly, looking up at him again. Klaus pauses from his instinct to chase her lips and focuses on her stare. Layer by layer, his eyes light up like the city at dusk, brighter and brighter until a skyful of stars can't rival the glamour. _Finally_ , Caroline thinks as she adds a little force to her hands and pulls him down.

The world fades as they kiss, stumbling tongues and crushing lips; but it vivifies at the same time, a gentle caress igniting flames and a soft moan drawing storms. Caroline doesn't know a kiss can feel this good-she bets Klaus doesn't either.

So when they finally breaks apart, chests heaving in sync, she has a smug little smile on her face, "told you I could help."

"Can't say I'm surprised." Klaus touches her cheek, as if to feel the smile on his fingertips, and when he does he holds it in his palm with all the care in the world, "guess I'll have to include you in my plans from now on."

* * *

The house is smaller than Klaus thought. Probably no more than three or four bedrooms, with a modest yard. The only upside is the view of the sea. And maybe the red flowers blossoming from the little patio on the rooftop. All in all, not Rebekah's usual style.

But two weeks of searching makes his self-doubt grow. What is Rebekah's style really? He expected Europe, around the Mediterranean area, with rich culture and rich wine. Or still in the US, somewhere along the coastline, if she was feeling bold enough. Not Australia though. Not this meager abode blending into plain sight, with nothing in particular for it to stand out.

They've always resided in grand houses. They were unscrupulous creatures who needed their own space, and they had powers to gain that luxury. Sometimes it's hard to remember they used to cramp in that little cottage in their hometown, worrying about next day's food. It's hard to remember those days at all.

Or it's just a lie he tells himself, to cover the fact that he never forgets it for one second of his afterlife.

Klaus stares at the house as if it could transform into some magical contraption or just disappear in front of his eyes. He still can't quite believe he'll find Rebekah here. Nothing of the house screams her name. Or does it? She did always like red flowers.

"Are you going in there or are you planning to spend the rest of your immortal life in this car?" Caroline asks dryly from the passenger's seat, "cause if that's the case I'm gonna have to ask you to at least drive it to the beach. The water's calling to me."

He can hear the longing buried deep in her teasing voice. It's been two weeks since they found Gloria, and contact after contact they tracked Rebekah down. He tried his best to keep her comfortable, but bathtubs and swimming pools can just do so much. "So you'd still be here? Even if I decide to live in a car?"

"Yes, I will accompany you to see your sister." Caroline rolls her eyes adorably as she reaches over to unbuckle his seatbelt, "now come on, quit stalling. Off you go."

Klaus places a hand on her back and keeps her there, their noses brushing against each other, "you know this is the end, right?"

Part of him wants to turn around and leave. To take Caroline on that trip that he always tempts her with and leave Rebekah to her own idea of a perfect life. To be satisfied enough with the knowledge that his little sister is safe and contented somewhere in the world and to make peace with the concept that he won't be able to see her or even talk to her whenever he feels like it. To become a mere memory, no matter sweet or sad or just infinitely pale. Maybe that'll do them both some good.

"No, it's not." Caroline leans down and gives his a quick peck on the corner of his lips, "not yet." Then she's out of his arms and out of the car, waving at him to follow from across the street.

Klaus touches his lips, a little bit awestruck. They haven't shared another kiss since that night, nor did they talk about it, both under the tacit impression that they would pursue that line of discussion after they solved the problem with Rebekah. There's been moments, hot sparkling electrified ones at that, but they managed to avoid the actual move.

Until just then.

Caroline's mouthing 'hurry up' at him, miming staking him in the heart. Klaus pushes the door open and steps out with a smile and an eye-roll. They'll revisit the subject when it's time.

Now he has to go see his little sister.

He isn't blocked out of the door by the invisible barrier that prevents vampires from entering. It figures. There aren't many in this world that can threaten Rebekah and the ones that do won't be kept out by a human owner of the house. The first floor is empty, so he quietly goes up the narrow staircase, pulling Caroline behind him.

It's already past dusk outside and the whole house is bleak with grey shadows lurking in every corner. Only one of the rooms on the second floor is lit up, the light streaming from the end of the hallway. So it's an invitation then.

Klaus saunters over, not worried about hiding the sound of his footsteps. When he pulls the door open this time, he does hit a barrier. Beyond the barrier, the face of his sister smiles coldly at him.

"Nik. Took you long enough. I was wondering if you'd ever come up at this rate."

Klaus pats the barrier mockingly, "Rebekah. A warm welcome as always."

Rebekah flips her hair to her back and crosses her arms, "you should be glad that it's only a harmless barrier."

"Yeah, if it's up to me you'd be flying out of the window with massive cuts on your body by now." A voice comes from further inside the room, and then the girl stalks out, standing just to the side of Rebekah, glaring at him.

"Bonnie Bennett." Klaus lightly pinches his own chin as he leers at the witch, "now how did I know I'd find you here?"

Bonnie snorts, "how did you like my note, Klaus?"

Rage boils in his chest, but he pushes it down, his smirk growing deeper and more ominous, "it was quite clever, really. Sent me treasure hunting while you kidnap my sister halfway across the world."

"I did _not_ kidnap your sister." Bonnie's eyes flicker in anger, "I did not take her against her will and force her to do anything she didn't want to. I did not threaten you with her life in exchange for your humble service. I did not hurt her for my personal gain."

"I know witches are good at holding grudges," Klaus opens his arms, "and believe it or not I admire your valor to act on it. But this is family business, Bonnie, and I suggest you stay clear. These brawls inside our family can get pretty violent, and we wouldn't want anyone to get caught in the crossfire."

"Cut it, Nik. Between Bonnie and me we can write a book about your empty threats." Rebekah retorts, "and Bonnie is my friend. I want her here."

"Friends, huh?" Klaus' eyes flashes, "those seem to be overflowing in your new life lately. I don't recall seeing them during our thousand year together."

"And whose fault is that?"

Klaus huffs a cold laugh, his hand waving midair in a dramatic fashion, "yes, blame me for your insufferable temper and your poor judgments." His eyes squint at the bracelet on her wrist, his tone becoming more cutting, "such a cheap human trinket and you fall right into her deceiving sob story."

The moment he saw that bracelet that had once been Elena's possession adorning Rebekah's wrist he knew what had transpired. Another doppelganger stealing another of his siblings from him. But doppelgangers were expected to behave as such. Selfishness and guile ran in their blood vessels.

Not his siblings. Especially not Rebekah.

Rebekah's hand instinctively shoots up to cover her friendship bracelet protectively, "I don't expect you to understand, Nik. You never do."

"Tell me how I'm supposed to understand this." Klaus snarls at her, "how I'm supposed to understand that you of all people went behind my back and ruined my only chance of getting my heart's desire. I could have had hybrids! People of my own. I was so close and you took it from me for _that_!" He throws his hand towards the bracelet and his fist ends up banging on the barrier, a loud thud booming in the room.

"It was never supposed to be yours." Bonnie's voice cuts through his tirade, "You just claimed it regardless of anyone and anything other than you. Elena doesn't deserve to live her life in your shadow, serving as your long-term blood bag. And those wolves that you planned to turn don't deserve to-"

"To what?" Klaus bristles, his eyes flashing yellow in full hybrid feature, "to become an abomination like me? To live as a hybrid, shunned by either species yet stronger than both?"

"You were going to kill them in the process!" Bonnie spits out in contempt, "that's people's lives! Not some toys you can play house with for the three minutes of your attention span."

Klaus clenches his teeth, wanting more than anything to tear down the barrier and rip out the little witch's throat, "we'd be connected by blood for eternity."

" _We_ are connected by blood for eternity!" Rebekah throws up her hands, "loathing as I am to admit it. You have a family and yet you are hell-bent on creating another. What did you think it would be like, Nik? That they would accept you with open arms no matter what? That they wouldn't ever leave you? All the blood in the world cannot possibly achieve that."

"I guess it can't." His voice is low but it hurts him more than ever coming out of his throat, like it's dragging his insides out in the open and all that's left in him is pain and emptiness. He stares at Rebekah, not willing to back down and he can see the same hurt and hollow in her eyes. Their endless time on this earth has only drained them of all things good and the only things they can give out now are rotten wounds and charred ashes.

"What do you want, Nik?" Rebekah asks in the silence, her face emotionless but her eyes so, so tired.

Klaus opens his mouth several times but no sounds come out. What does he want? Up until this very minute he hasn't exactly thought about that. For the past weeks he was driven by the sole purpose of finding Rebekah, but now he's found her. Does he force her, threaten her, guilt her or trick her to come with him? Does he leave her be and wait for her to come crawling back when she hits rock bottom? Or does he leave her life for good?

His mind is still a mess but a voice from behind saves him from answering right away, "um…you mind if I cut in?"

Caroline. She's been so quiet he nearly forgot she was there the whole time.

"Since we are starting to talk terms here," Caroline steps up and stands beside him, "maybe I should throw in one of own."

"Who the hell are you?" Rebekah furrows her brows, obviously surprised at the other blonde's presence.

"I'm Caroline. It's very nice to finally meet you, Rebekah. I'd shake hands with you but…you know." Caroline lightly knocks the barrier and shrugs.

Rebekah rolls her eyes, "it's been what? Two weeks? Three? And you've already found a cheap substitute of me. And she's not even that pretty. How pathetic, Nik."

Klaus has a thousand sarcastic remarks on his tongue now but Caroline beats him to it, "Excuse you!" She puts her hands on her hip, her face threateningly close the barrier to glare at Rebekah, "that's a very rude thing to say. And for your information, I'm Klaus' friend."

Klaus glances at her from the corner of his eyes. Friends? This is the first time he's heard this. Rebekah seems to share his incredulity.

"Nik doesn't have friends."

"Well he does now." Caroline tilts her head a little and explains in a matter-of-fact voice.

"No matter. He'll toss you away soon enough." Rebekah snorts, "that is if you don't end up dead first."

Caroline is about to rebut that when Bonnie jumps in, her eyes suspicious on the strange girl, "I don't care what your relationship with him is. You said you wanted something? Does that something concern me?"

"Actually, yes." Caroline admits a little sheepishly and Bonnie's eyes instantly narrow, "Klaus has promised that he would help me find a Bennett witch and well…here I am. But I think I should ask you myself." She fidgets on her toes, "I know we've only just met and haven't even been properly introduced but…I could really use your help."

Bonnie shakes her head guardedly, "I don't help people involved with Klaus."

"And yet you helped my sister fake her kidnap and possible death in the sea." Klaus quirks his eyebrows, "ah the irony."

Rebekah points her finger towards the two of them, "what is this? Why did you promise her anything? Why are you helping her now?"

"I'm helping Caroline, dear sister," Klaus clasps his hands together behind his back, "because she helped me fetch a certain coffin from the bottom of the ocean. And why did I need the coffin you ask?" He tilts his head, seemingly searching his brain for the answer, "oh yes, because I was tricked into thinking that you were in there, all desiccated and helpless."

"And just why was I desiccated and sealed in a bloody coffin in the first place?" Rebekah shouts at him, her hands in fists, "you had it coming, Klaus, and you don't get to whine about it!"

"Wait," Bonnie takes a few steps towards Caroline, "you fetched that coffin for him?" Her eyes widen at Caroline's tiny nod, "you are a mermaid?"

Something flashes through Klaus' mind, and he turns to Bonnie with evil eyes, "you knew. You led me to that shore on purpose." He smirks menacingly, "sorry to disappoint you but as you can see, the mermaids did not tear me apart as you wished."

"Hey!" Caroline slapped his upper arm, "we do not harm people! Well, at least innocent ones." She shrugs, her voice lowering as she realizes what Klaus' been talking about, "our kind does not take well to treasure hunters. We are a bit, um…territorial."

"I thought your kind loves being the savior of drowning Adonis." Rebekah snarks.

Caroline throws her head back in a frustrated sigh, "that's all dolphin."

Bonnie, clearly not pleased with getting off their topic, zeroes in on Caroline, "if you are a mermaid, why are you on his side?"

"I'm on my own side here." Caroline forages in her purse and pull out the seashell, "you see this? A witch from your bloodline sealed my mom's voice in it years ago, but it's broken and I want to fix it. So I made a deal with Klaus and he took me here."

A wistful smile emerges on Bonnie's face and for the first time since Klaus came to the room, her eyes softens, "that was my grams. She used to tell me about your tribe and her travel around that part of the ocean. That's why I thought of leading Klaus there." She lifts an eyebrow, "I was counting on you guys to take care of him for me."

"Well," Caroline glances at Klaus, a little smile playing in her eyes, "he met me. And obviously isn't being eaten away by little fishes on the seabed. But it could be a curse in disguise."

He sincerely doubt that.

"Maybe I can help you with that." Bonnie gestures to the seashell, "but Klaus isn't welcome here."

"Well lucky for you, witch," Klaus paces along the barrier, "despite your repeated attempts at defying me, I didn't come here for you. So it's not up to you whether I leave or stay."

"Too bad." Bonnie relies dryly, "my name's on the lease together with Rebekah's. And I say, no."

The whole room falls into an uncomfortable silence, the tension pressing down on everyone like deadly weights. Klaus searches Rebekah's face, taking in how she glances at Bonnie with that tiny glimpse of uncertainty and how her eyes grow a shade darker when she turns back to stare him down. She's all hard lines and pursed lips, with just that slight tremble in the far end of her jaw and imperceptible reddening around the brim of her eyes.

She's so fierce and stubborn and scared and unapologetic. Just like him. Like they once were when they were helpless kids subjected to fists and terror; like they always have been when they were the most feared and revolted creatures wreaking havoc and tearing their way through life.

Once again he feels drained. He holds out his hand, trying to reach Rebekah, to tuck her silky hair behind her ear like thousands of times before, but against his palm is the barrier, cold and hard and unyielding.

"You asked me what I wanted, little sister." Klaus sighs, "but I'm not making the call. Not this time. Tell me Rebekah, what do _you_ want?"

Rebekah sucks in a breath, shaken by his change of heart, "I had the most terrible time of my life these past weeks. I have my own house, my own beach. The town is peace and quiet, and the view is beautiful. I have a friend. But I still feel absolutely dreadful. Not because I missed you, but because I was scared that you'd come for me any minute. That you'd rip it all away and put a dagger in my heart. You have that much power over me and I don't trust you not to do it again." She shakes her head, a single tear seeping out of her eye, and it's the only thing shining painfully in the darkness looming over them, "I want you out of my life, Nik."

* * *

Caroline stops right in front of Rebekah, drops her purse on the corner of towel that the other girl's lying on, and gasps, "oh, I didn't see you there."

"If you are going to act, put some effort into it. It makes up slightly for your lack of talent." Caroline can practically sense the eye-roll from behind Rebekah's shades, "and you are blocking the sun."

"It's not like you can actually get tanned." Caroline drops down carelessly next to her, wrapping herself tighter in her thick cardigan, "you are a vampire and it's September, in Australia."

Rebekah sits up and pushes her shades to the top of her head, eyeing her up and down, "what are you doing here? It's a private beach and you are not welcome."

Caroline shrugs, "I came to see Bonnie. She fixed my seashell." She rummages through her purse and takes it out excitedly, "she's really powerful. Just a few chants and a flick of her wrist and bam! It's as good as new."

"Put that away from my face." Rebekah frowns at her coldly, "or I can't guarantee I won't break it all over again."

Caroline's hands instantly jerk back, holding the seashell close to her heart, "you make better threats than your brother. Meaner."

"I don't want to talk about him." Rebekah drags her shades back to place, "especially not with you."

Caroline refrains from commenting on the fact that she doesn't even want her here half a minute ago. "Fine. No Klaus talk." She makes a zipping motion across her lips, "so, you are friends with Bonnie? How did that happen? No offense, but from what I gathered, Bonnie doesn't care for vampires very much."

"That's putting it mildly." Rebekah snorts, but a little smile creeps on her face, "she hates vampires. She's a witch after all. They are repulsed by our kind almost physically." She makes a face, "Bonnie was friends with Elena first. They grew up together."

"The girl Klaus used in his ritual? Sorry." Caroline apologizes immediately, noticing her slip-up.

But Rebekah doesn't seem to mind. She plays with the friendship bracelet on her wrist, colorful threads woven together in simple patterns. The whole thing looks generic and nondescript at best. "she pleaded to me, you know. Nik was out doing some last-minute check-up and I was supposed to watch her. She got all teary and emotional and I was getting bored. But then she asked me to kill her."

"What?" Caroline gasps, for real this time.

"She said it was better than a life controlled by Klaus." Rebekah huffs, "she'd rather die than be tied to my brother for life. And for a minute I was jealous of her, because she could make that decision so easily. Such a pure, untainted creature, with such clean-cut morals. So instead of killing her, I put my blood in a glass of wine and made her drink it."

"That's going to turn her into a vampire if she dies, right?" Caroline asks, rubbing the seashell unconsciously, now genuinely intrigued by Rebekah's side of the story.

"If she's lucky enough to die with it in her system, yes. And she was. Nik killed her in the ritual and she came back. She left the bracelet for Bonnie to give to me before she ran away, saying that although she didn't want to be a vampire, she was thankful that I gave her the choice to be free. So into symbolism, that girl." Rebekah picks at the bracelet, seemingly lost in thought.

"Do you know what happened to her after that?"

Rebekah shakes her head, "I don't even know if she completed the transition. She was always so opposed to vampirism though, acting all superior in her fragile human form. She could be dead now. Or running around the world, drinking half the population dry. Who cares?"

"Then why did you keep the bracelet?" Caroline looks at her with piercing eyes. Rebekah is so like her brother sometimes it's uncanny. But then again, they are siblings who've been together for a thousand years. The thought makes Caroline melt inside as much as it creeps her out.

The nonchalant look on Rebekah's face falters for a second, her lips parting slightly in bemusement, "I guess freedom does have its appeal. Even a symbolic one."

Caroline hums in response, not pressing any further. Being with Klaus for the past two weeks has improved her communication skills exponentially. And negotiation. And battling. And maybe dancing. It's all about push and pull, knowing when to dive in and when to let it go. She waves the seashell tentatively at Rebekah, "do you want to hear it."

The girl doesn't respond so Caroline takes that as a yes (she's getting really good at reading grudging affirmatives too). She puts her lips to the seam of the seashell and gently blows. Buzzing noises gradually come out, and then her mother's voice is singing in their ears. It's the most special version of Brahms' _Lullaby_ she's ever heard but it's also the most beautiful in her heart.

When the singing ends Rebekah licks her lips hesitantly, "I thought you were a mermaid." She's trying so hard to keep the frown out of her face Caroline laughs out loud.

"It's fine. I know she was never a good singer." She looks at Rebekah teasingly, seeing her blush in embarrassment, "She was just a human though. That's why I can walk on land."

"A hybrid." Rebekah lifts her brows, her voice a little awed.

Caroline shrugs, "I guess you could say that. But my life is pretty ordinary compared to Klaus'."

"My mother used to sing lullabies to me also." Rebekah reminisces in a gentle voice, "or she would just chant something. A spell that keeps away nightmares I think. It was very soothing." Noticing Caroline's puzzled looks she explains, "she was a powerful witch, our mother." Considering for a few moments, she sighs, "she was the one that put the curse on Nik."

Caroline's eyes widen. Her mind flashes to the night at the hotel when she told Klaus about her father. The look he gave her then made Caroline's heart well up with sadness, so poignant like he knew exactly how she felt; like he was reliving the painful experience through Caroline's narration. "he didn't tell me about that."

"Nik's pretty tight-lipped on that subject."

"It was a cruel thing to do." Caroline is fuming inside. What kind of mother does that to her child? But her dad did something similar-he didn't go through with it though. Did it make her dad better? Would Klaus' mother stop then if he had his own seashell?

"It was." Rebekah looks down, grabbing a handful of sand then letting it slip from the seams of her fingers, "after the ritual I couldn't get his cries of pain out of my head for days. Even now I still have nightmares about it sometimes."

She is silent for a long time, just playing with the sand. After what seems like hours she finally speaks, her voice barely audible, "is he here?"

Caroline shakes her head, offering an empathetic smile, "he thinks you don't want to see him." Klaus has been so quiet ever since they left Rebekah's last night for the hotel-not that she blame him. But something about his silence worries her. Normally he can be a man with few words a lot of the time, but there's always this vibrant passion around him, like he's soaking everything in with all of him. But now he just seems…off. Bleak. Really, really tired.

Rebekah looks torn even with her shades on, her lower lip a deep red from all the biting. Suddenly there's a click in Caroline's mind and she grabs Rebekah's hand, "I want to show you something."

"I thought you already showed me." Rebekah gestures at Caroline's seashell with her chin.

Caroline shakes her head, putting the seashell back into her purse, "no, something else." She stands up and pulls Rebekah with her, "do you trust me?"

Rebekah tries to pull free, "not really, no."

"Okay I know trust issue probably runs in your family but just this once," Caroline bats her eyelashes at her, "come with me?"

"Fine." Rebekah drops her shades and stands up with a huff, "I get why Nik's with you now. You are so clingy and whiny it's impossible to shake you off."

Caroline rolls her eyes, dragging Rebekah with her to the shoreline, "yep. That's my charm."

"Are you trying to get me down there?" Rebekah shrills as they wend their way further and further into the water, "it's freezing and I have no interest in fish-watching!"

"Take a deep breath." Caroline ignores her protests.

"What?"

"You are right, we're going down, so take a deep breath." Caroline gives her a challenging look, "you are immortal and you are wearing a bikini. What's the worst thing that could happen?"

"I could drown and you'd leave me there as fish food?" Rebekah glares at her.

"I promise I will take you back. It's just a tour."

Instead of saying anything, Rebekah inhales deeply as she asked, still glaring. Caroline bites back a smile and pulls the original down with her, feeling the lower half of her body changing into a tail.

The water is indeed freezing but she's used to it. It feels liberating and comforting being back in the sea after so long. She looks back at Rebekah briefly, flashing her an encouraging smile before diving deeper into the ocean, her hand holding tight.

She's going fast, knowing that Rebekah, as a vampire, must be used to the speed. Schools of colorful fish passes them and beautiful corals appear around but Caroline doesn't stop. She goes straight down towards the unseeing darkness where she can sense a hollow calling, absorbing and swallowing everything in sight. A trench.

When she's just a few feet from the edge she looks back at Rebekah again. She can barely make out the lines of her face but she can tell her oxygen is almost used up. She squeezes Rebekah's hand to reassure her before dragging her back up.

They are back on the shore in no time. Rebekah drops down on the sand and slaps her hand away, coughing violently, "if you really wanted to murder me that much you could have at least go for something less strenuous."

Caroline kneels beside her and pats her back gently, "I'm sorry. I know it must have felt awful, but I just wanted you to see-"

"See what?" Rebekah grits out.

"To see what Klaus saw."

Rebekah freezes at her words, her head jerking up to stare at her with such fury and violence, blood vessels emerging under her eyes.

Caroline holds her eyes without flinching, "he was trying to fetch your coffin himself. He didn't sense my presence at first, but I was watching him the whole time. From noon till midnight, he must have dived in hundreds of times, each time a little bit closer, but not close enough."

She mistook him for someone committing suicide at first. But after the tenth or so try she knew he had a goal-one that he couldn't possibly give up, not if he was alive. And she recognized him then, recognized him as the person whose life may never come to an end. So she watched him, struggling again and again, face straining from suffocation, letting the darkness swallow him without a sound. But he always came back out-until the last time when he almost didn't.

"The last time he went down there, he was almost within arm's reach to the coffin, but I could see that he'd already run out of oxygen and was hanging there with sheer will, but he didn't go back up. He was hesitating. There was no way he'd get your coffin and push it out of the water, but he was hesitating. In oceans that deep one second of delay could cost you your life. But I suspect he was considering actually dying for the moment and getting the coffin when he came back."

"That's crazy." Rebekah whispers.

Caroline nods, "it was. So I came out and saved his crazy ass."

She squeezes Rebekah's shoulder. She's shivering, so Caroline runs up the beach to fetch her towel and wraps it around her. "I'm not asking you to forgive him for what he did. It's not my place, and I do think what he did was pretty unforgivable. Plus, I'm all for being your own person and building your own life. If you want that, I say go for it."

Rebekah is avoiding her eyes, looking into her own laps, her face unreadable. Caroline continues in a lower voice, "but I just want you to know that he was willing to die-momentarily of course, but still die to get you back." She sighs deeply, the complicated history between the siblings weighing heavily on her heart, "just…keep that in mind when you go on separate ways."

When she stands up to leave, she catches the tiniest nod from Rebekah, and the first hint of a smile.

* * *

Klaus looks out the window of their hotel room, fascinated by the budding branches of the blue jacaranda. He hasn't spent that much time in the Southern Hemisphere in his thousand years on earth, and the reverse of seasons still catches him off guard sometimes. Spring in September-that takes some time to get used to even for him.

But it is quite beautiful. The little coffee shop where he met with Rebekah before she left was surrounded by tulips, and she'd stopped mid-sentence in their conversation to take a sniff. It reminded him so much of their childhood days.

Their parting was considerably genial. Neither apologized in words. It wouldn't suffice anyway, so they avoided talking about the past altogether.

He had thought that Rebekah would want to stay here a little longer, seeing as it was the first place she'd set foot on after getting rid of him. He expected her to linger for a few years, maybe even put down some roots. But Rebekah rebutted that idea right away, "my world doesn't revolve around you, Nik, or the void of you. From now on I'm solely focused on me."

She didn't tell him where she was going, and he didn't ask. He'd given her a goodbye kiss on the cheek and her whisper against his ear surprised him, "I'll see you when I see you, brother." It was an empty promise, he knew that, but still better than just a few days before when she'd cut all ties.

It made his heart lighter, which he hadn't thought would be possible for the past hundred years.

"I still think I packed my favorite polka-dot shirt with me but I can't find it. What am I gonna pair with my shorts?" He hears Caroline's frustrated mumbling passing behind him and he laughs silently. And there's the other reason that his heart feels less burdened. Like it's growing bright, sweet, huffing-and-puffing talking-nonstop little wings.

"I'd tell you that you look stunning wearing anything or nothing at all, but you'll just roll your eyes at me." Klaus turns around to take in her ruffled hair and flushed cheeks.

Caroline stops rummaging and comes to the window side with a smirk, "I'll still roll my eyes at you even if you don't say that. Oh wait, you just did." And true to her words an eye-roll is delivered in all its glory.

Klaus studies her face, a twinkle in his eyes, "what did you say to Rebekah, love?"

"What?" Caroline gapes at him, feigning innocence, "why would I talk to your sister? I can't stand her. I can barely stand you."

"So I'm just to believe that she miraculously came around?"

Caroline shrugs, "why not? She's your sister after all."

Klaus curls up his lips. Things always seem easy and clear to Caroline. Maybe because she's young and hasn't seen much of the mud pool that is the human world just yet, or maybe just because she's Caroline. He may not always agree with her but it's certainly refreshing to hear her take on things.

The more he gets to know her, the more intrigued he is. How curious.

"Now that I've found my sister and seen her off once more-on talking terms this time, might I add," Klaus starts, gauging at Caroline, choosing every word carefully, "guess it's time for us to leave."

Caroline nods, seemingly not aware of the tension in his voice, "it's all nice here but really quite dull. I don't know what Rebekah was thinking when she decided to stay here."

Klaus takes in a quiet breath, giving it another try, "I'm beyond grateful for your company and help these past weeks, Caroline. But I would understand if you feel a bit homesick."

His heart is in his throat but Caroline just laughs without a care in the world, "is that a 'thank you' I'm hearing from you? Wow. I should go buy the lottery." And not a word about the "homesick" part.

Klaus sighs inwardly. Perhaps that's her subtle way of rejecting him. Closing the subject before it's put on the table. They still haven't talked about their kiss-kisses if he count the one in front of Rebekah's house. Maybe Caroline regrets it.

"Yes, although it started as a deal between us I may have ended up more in debt to you than I know." He isn't sure what magic Caroline worked with his sister but she did make Rebekah reconsider her decision regarding him, and he should really appreciate that, but the words taste like sawdust in his mouth. One moment ago he was so deeply enjoying the world around him, the spring, the flowers, the whispered ramblings of Caroline, and now he just feels detached.

"Don't mention it. We helped each other, it was a win-win. So I'll go back to packing then?" Caroline gestures towards her pile of clothes on the sofa.

"Caroline." Klaus calls out to her and Caroline stops, quirking an eyebrow in inquire. He doesn't remember feeling so out of depth his whole life, licking his lips nervously as incoherent words form on his tongue, "do you perhaps have some ideas? About where you are going?" He doesn't dare to use the word "we" now.

Caroline's eyelashes flutter and he gets the impression that she's seeing right through him. "You seem to be asking a lot about what people want these days." He knows she's referring to his conversation with Rebekah, "I don't know if I should be surprised or scared."

"I'll keep in mind not to make it a habit." Klaus looks out the window, feeling too exposed.

"You know, I was talking to Bonnie the other day when she fixed my seashell. And something she said got me thinking."

Klaus lands his hands on the window sill, pressing down hard, "well I'm sure the witch had many scintillating opinions about me."

"Not _that_." Caroline huffs, "although she did say she would gladly thwart your plans again for what you did to her."

Klaus snorts exasperated, "gave her an inch and that's what happens. I should have known."

Caroline ignores his angered remark, "she asked me why I risked everything for the seashell. Well technically I wouldn't say I risked everything but you know Bonnie-coming with you, plotting with you, working with you, it's all a big risk to her."

"What are you getting at?" He's nervous as hell and his patience is running thin.

"I told her I never let anything come between me and what I want." Caroline nudges him playfully with her shoulder and his fingers clenching on the window sill instantly softens, "you see? My seashell, the dress, the mall," they share a laugh at that, "being a part of your plan. What I want, I always get."

There's so much strength but also so much uncertainty in her voice. Klaus turns back to face her, looking into her stormy blue eyes and all the secrets they hold. They are trying to ask him or tell him something, something that's already been decided and neither of them has any control over. The answer is just beyond their gluing gaze but they still have to uncover it. In the next second or the next millennium, Klaus doesn't know-yet.

"And I want you."

The world stops as those words tumbles out of her trembling lips.

"I want _you_ , Klaus."

Then it starts spinning wildly and all they can hold on to is each other.

Their lips crush together like stars, bumping and shaking with storms and fire. There are too many lips and teeth and tongue, but at the same time there's not enough. He devours her, plundering her mouth with his tongue, not missing one spot. She's licking and sucking and biting and it's an utter chaos. Sensations burst inside his mouth, sweetness and pain and arousal, mixing but not blending, the constant push and pull.

But unlike their battling mouths their bodies fit as one. He doesn't know whose hand is on whom and he doesn't care. She's an extension of him and vice versa. Everything melts together and the heat is rising and rising, so smooth and rampant.

Their clothes disappear before they notice, falling into bed wrapped around each other, their lips not separating for one second. Caroline is moaning softly into his mouth, the sound going straight down to his groin, making him hard as hell.

He rubs himself against her abdomen as his hand travels down to her chest and kneads her left breast. Her long moan is vibrating just under his palm, making his fingertips tingle like flints. He draws fire wherever he goes, planting growing flames around her breast and cleavage, tucking her shattered breaths greedily under his tongue. Finally he approaches her hardened nipple and brushes it.

Caroline jerks as a sharp gasp leaves her throat and their lower half press so tight he can't stop the groan from his own chest. But his fingers don't stop, flipping and pinching with precise skill and raw passion. He's relentless, to her and to himself, their body writhing against each other the sweetest torture they can inflict. And they take it all in strides, head dizzy and skin scorching.

He inhales deeply, his hypersensitive sense of smell catching every trace of Caroline's arousal wafting in the air and it's almost intoxicating. Klaus can't hold it in any longer as he lifts up a little and pushes his hand along her silky creamy skin, down her flat stomach and cute belly button until he reaches her core. He can feel Caroline's anticipation as she continues to attack his mouth with bated breath. But just as he was about to press down his fingers, both of them freeze.

There under his hovering hand, shining blue and silver in the afternoon sun.

Caroline's tail.

"Wh-what?" Caroline's stuttering in disbelief, "how's that possible?"

Klaus looks bewildered at her. He's just as clueless as she is, if not more so-she's the only hybrid mermaid he's ever seen.

"I never shift on land!" Caroline pushes her hair back in frustration, "my legs gets into water and they turn into a tail. It's that simple."

Klaus can't hide an amused smirk, "well I didn't think you were that wet, although I didn't get to test it just yet."

Caroline slaps at his chest, her face blushing more than before, "this is NOT a joke, perv!" She pushes Klaus off of her, her tail wiggling helplessly, "how can this be? I don't even know how to change back. It always just happens-I can't will it!"

Klaus sighs, pushing his hand through his own hair, equally frustrated now, "well maybe we could get you into wa-"

He is interrupted by the beeping of his phone. Coincidence? He doesn't think so.

Reaching into the pocket of his pants thrown on the floor, he fetches his phone under Caroline's glare. But he's too busy fuming inside to explain to her.

It's a text message. From Bonnie Bennett.

 _Klaus, this is a burner phone so don't bother calling back. You probably think you are pretty magnanimous for 'granting me mercy', but I'm not quite done with thwarting your plans. Consider this a warning. Next time you mess with me, I'll do way more than cockblocking. P. S. Caroline, don't worry. Just think about what you really want and if you get it, you'll be back to normal. It can go either way._

"What does that mean?" Caroline shrills in his ear, having taken a peek at the message over his shoulder.

"I know exactly what she means. The bloody witch!" Klaus throws the phone back down to the floor, his face dark, "I'll run her down and when I'm done with her she'll know what mercy looks like."

"Klaus!" Caroline snaps her finger in his face, "focus. What is Bonnie saying? How can I change back?"

Klaus heaves a deep sigh, suddenly more than aware of their proximity and the heat radiating off Caroline's body against his, "well…you just said what you wanted, sweetheart. And according to the witch that's the key."

"So what? I get it on with you and I get my legs back?" Caroline furrows her brows, "but I thought we were just…"

Klaus clears his throat, "the wording of the text clearly indicates that we have to do a bit more than 'get it on'. If I have to hazard a guess…"

"I'm going out of my mind here Klaus, just spit it out!"

He licks his lips, his eyes becoming a little hooded at the words he's about to say, "I believe the spell means for you to orgasm before shifting back to you normal state."

"You've got to be kidding me."

Klaus shrugs, "the last sentence suggests that you could either reach a climax or snuff the lust altogether, depending on what your heart truly desires. But since you've so clearly expressed your inclinations," he breaks into a smug grin, "I don't see another choice."

"I'm going to kill Bonnie after this!" Caroline growls and drops onto her back, "you hear me? Not you, me! No matter what issues she had or still has with you it doesn't give her the right to meddle in my sex life! If she thinks she can just-"

"Caroline," he suddenly plants a kiss on her breast, just beside the nipple and her breath hitches, her ranting stuck in her throat, "focus."

He laps at her nipple nice and slow, feeling it growing rigid once again under the ministrations of his tongue. He sucks the nipple between his lips and nips at it with his blunt human teeth, every nip eliciting a shiver and a gasp from Caroline. Her skin heats up under his palms till they are burning, like they've never stopped. As his sucks become harder and his hands press down with more force, he can feel Caroline's tail thrashing on the sheet and she lets out a tiny whimper that simultaneously tugs at his heart and swells his cock.

"I don't know how we are going to…" Caroline gets out between moans, "I don't think I can."

"There's always a way, sweetheart." Klaus kisses up her chest to her neck, licking behind her ear, "leave it to me."

Her eyes flutter half shut before suddenly she flips them over, a fierce look on her face. "No," she leans down with an evil smirk at the corner of her lips, "I refuse to be the only one coming." Then those sinful lips wrap around his nipple and it's Klaus' turn to gasp. She's using way more teeth than he did, tugging ruthlessly till he grunts, but also soothing him instantly with her soft tongue and the sharp pain turns into more heated arousal.

Eventually Klaus can't take it anymore. He feels like either he or Caroline is going to explode or they are going to combust together, so he pulls her up and gives her a rough kiss on the lips, "if that's the case, we'll have to get it right."

He picks Caroline up and flips her again-she weighs nothing in his arms-with her head to his abdomen and him facing her tail, both reclining on their sides. "Do whatever you want with me, but focus on your own arousal." He palms her tail gently, inch after inch. The scales feel cold to the touch but underneath them the heat of her body is seeping through and she shivers.

Klaus smirks against her, "I thought so. It must be really sensitive to help you keep your balance in the water. All those currents and waves, and you have to stay attuned to the tiniest shift. You are truly magnificent." His fingers are roaming the lower half of her body now, igniting fire after fire until she's burning white-hot to the core, but one more touch or one more kiss and she's shown that she can burn hotter, hotter still, "feel me like you feel the tides, Caroline."

As if responding, he feels Caroline's lips on his abdomen, and his breath hitches from the fiery touch. She goes further down, planting kisses all around his cock but not touching it, and he moans while licking her lower belly, "you like teasing me, don't you, sweetheart? Feeling all powerful and strong that I'm at your mercy. And you are so hot like this." He grunts as she finally takes his hard cock in her hands and presses an open-mouthed kiss to the base.

"Can you feel that? Can you feel how turned on I am for you, Caroline?" As an unexpected answer Caroline licks his cocks from bottom to top, sucking the skin along the side in the process.

Klaus sighs as a wave of heat runs from his cock to his head, her tongue surrounding him like hot lava. He reciprocates by playing with the tender flesh around her waist and his cock grows harder in her gasps. She lingers at the tip and wraps her lips tightly around it, her tongue now playing just around the slit and Klaus sucks in a breath to steady himself, his eyes fluttering shut but he doesn't stop his hand, feeling every ripple in Caroline's body and rousing her further.

"Did I ever tell you about my fantasy?" He strains to keep his voice from trembling around the edges, arousal booming beneath every word, "I want to take you in the sea, sweetheart. I know your tail comes out in the water but I imagine you in your human form. So hot and smoking around me. The cold waves would swallow us whole but you'd only feel the heat, of us burning together."

But as he speaks what swallows him isn't the waves. It's Caroline. She takes him in deep and fast, his cock sliding against her pliant tongue and the inner side her mouth, hitting the gentle squeeze of the back of her throat. It's heaven and hell wrapped up in one and Klaus almost screams from the buzzing senses running amok in his body.

He has not completely recovered from the assault when Caroline's head starts bobbing up and down, her hands remaining at the bottom of his cock, pumping where her lips and tongue can't reach. Klaus swallows hard, leaning his forehead against Caroline's tail as he reaches down to grab Caroline's breast, pinching her nipples and then rubbing them. Caroline's muffled moans hasn't even reached his ears before he feels her throat closing in on the tip of his cock, and his own moan mingles with hers.

"I'd want you to do this to me in the sea." He kisses her slender waist, etching the words onto her skin with scorching breaths, "with the salt water filling your mouth. But not as much as I'm filling you. You'd feel so stuffed you can barely let out a sound, but the ones you do make, the sexy moans and whimpers, they will go right through me, I'd taste them on my tongues a thousand times. The ocean gets nothing-you are all mine."

Caroline's moans are growing louder now, and every sound indeed vibrates against his cock. Her writhing tail tumbles in the air before it strains in unbearable wanting and curls around his neck, the fin at the end caressing and nuzzling at his collar bone.

Klaus knows she's close, the same as he knows he can't hold it much longer. "But more than anything I want to push my cock into your tight wet pussy and fuck you senseless."

Caroline slips a hand to his balls, squeezing and stroking. An inhuman growl rumbles from Klaus' chest, and he manages to breathe out the last of his words, "you'd feel me in you, so deep and so hard. And you'd come around me, shaking with the whole sea." He holds onto her tight and presses his lips to where her skin blends into scales.

He sends an image of him thrusting into Caroline's contracting pussy to her as she sucks hard with his cock deep down her throat. He goes rigid, white lights bursting behind his eyelids. His cock keeps pulsing in Caroline's mouth and he feels her swallowing him down as her body trembles violently. Then suddenly the tail around his neck is gone, and Caroline's long legs are lying limp beside him on the bed.

He brushes her ankle with his lips and pulls her back up after a minute with his eyes closed, both still heaving and still dizzy from the high. He kisses her deep and long, tasting himself in her mouth, and he can't remember being more satisfied and sated.

They lie in each other's arms for a while, too spent to move, his fingers absently weaving through Caroline's silky tresses.

"What was that?" Caroline asks quietly, and Klaus knows she's talking about the image he sent her towards the end.

"Another of my vampire tricks." He smirks.

Caroline's giggles rolls off of his chest, "I told you they had their perks."

Just then the doorbell rings and Klaus groans, throwing an arm to cover his eyes in exasperation, "now what?" But he relents under Caroline's nudge, pulling on his pants and goes to the door. He swears inwardly he'll feed on whomever it is till their legs wobble if it's nothing important.

To his utter surprise it's a delivery from Rebekah. He twirls the bottle of Chianti wine from one of their vineyards in Tuscany and can hardly contain the smile sneaking up his face.

"You look happy." Caroline walks out with the sheet wrapped loosely around her, her cheeks flushes and her eyes glowing, "what is it?"

Klaus puts the bottle down and pulls her into his arms, "just another little clue." He tugs at a curl of her hair, "but to keep everyone from interrupting us I think it's high time we went on a trip of our own." He grins at Caroline, "I remember promising to show you Paris at night."

"Hmmm…I don't know." Caroline taps her chin playfully with her index finger, "I kind of want to take you to see the ocean. You know, properly. It's my turf after all."

He wants to tell her that he can see the ocean in her eyes, but that's a bit too cheesy even for him. So he just kisses her once more and loses himself in those endless cornflower blues.


	9. He Who Shine

**Author's Note:** _He Who Shines_ , written for LynyrdLionheart on AO3 ( lynyrdwrites on Tumblr). Regency AU, Dragon!Caroline with Carenzo BrOTP and Carenzo fake marriage.

* * *

Klaus stood rigidly at the bottom of the ball room, trying to keep a straight face-he had never been partial to these social occasions, but as a member of the host family, he could at least make an effort to not "spoil the spirits of the guests with his evident boredom" as so aptly put by his mother, Lady Esther Leyndarvatn, widow of the newly-deceased Lord Leyndarvatn.

The thought put a cold smirk on his face. Not so newly-deceased now, as they were all flitting around in colorful evening attires in the ballroom of his family's country estate in the north. It had already been over a year since Mikael-yes, that is what Klaus disrespectfully called him in his heart-passed away from pneumonia. It only seemed fair that a man so prideful of his own power and ability should wither away pathetically in the slowly-closing claws of such a common disease. To grow so thin and frail that a single cough racked his once iron-strong bones and the remaining cruelty in his sunken eyes could no longer belie the fear that was seeping through.

Klaus wondered what that wretched man would have felt if he had known that everyone would just carry on like nothing happened in his absence. If anything, the lights seemed brighter, the music louder, and the steps of all those dancing couples more brisk and daring. Would he roll around in his dark grave knowing all this? His bare bones, flesh all rotten away, rattling desperately in the confines of wood and dirt, with not a soul to scare for they were all here, wasting away yet another night in meaningless dancing and flirting?

Klaus hoped he suffered from these poisonous thoughts. Even in death.

He inwardly groaned as he caught his sister, Lady Rebekah Mikaelson, sending a surreptitious glare his way in the middle of her dancing with some simpleton with the rustiest dance moves he had ever seen. Not to mention those disgusting yellow teeth. He didn't know how Rebekah could stand these sad excuses of human beings, and he certainly intended to ignore her silent request of his interacting with the likes of them.

Klaus idly looked around the ballroom. He could see his mother conversing with some of the older ladies by the window, and his younger brother Kol hovering over a brunette, his hand reaching out to the back of the lady's dress where no one in the room could detect his misdeed-save for the sudden crimson color of the young lady's face. He had yet caught sight of his older brother Elijah, the now rightful Earl of Leyndarvatn, who was no doubt entertaining the married ladies as was his responsibility as the host.

That was the thing about balls. You had to aim to appear effortless and elegant, with everything going off smoothly without a hitch, but in reality it was always just a polished farce wrapped in expensive silk and diamonds. Underneath the grandeur was the thousands of trivialities, and underneath the gentility the ever-present awkwardness and vexation. The whitest cravat stained on the inside with excessive sweating, the barely concealed limp from a clumsy partner and an injured toe, the need to blink away tears when just a few wisps of your hair were caught in the back of the collar while dancing, the abrupt change of topic to cover a laugh just a pitch too high.

Klaus' smirk of contempt froze on his face when he spot his brother, or more precisely, the lady talking with him.

Her dress was in no way too flashy but no less extravagant, form-fitting in a subtle way. The long white slip was paired with a pale blue crape dress cut open in the front, accentuating her height while revealing her beautiful natural curves. The two halves were linked in the front with bands of pearls suspended loosely at distances like a glowing little waterfall. Her slender arms poured out of the short sleeves like the richest milk and her long neck was adorned with a diamond necklace. But all her glistening attires and accessories could not compare with her luscious blonde hair, which is pulled up in the back, leaving golden ringlets framing her face.

It was a shame that said face was currently blocked by the form of his brother, and Klaus suffered from a sudden urge to act on his impulse and drag his lordship aside so as to drink in every feature of her surely exquisite visage.

"You would do well to close your mouth right this second or the rumor of your uncontrollable drooling will be household knowledge by the end of the ball." Instead he was dragged out of his own thoughts by the taunting whisper of his sister, "it is no unforgivable trait, of course, but it doesn't exactly put you in the good graces of the ladies either."

"Why, Lady Rebekah," Klaus turned around to offer Rebekah a cheeky grin, "I see you have managed to escape your own suitor with no unforgivable trait. Sure his breath may stink a little, and he may dance like a poor man possessed by windmills, but he is the Marquis."

" _The Marquis_ ," Rebekah bit out with a tight smile, "is a kind and honorable man. He has certainly been more agreeable than you this whole evening."

Klaus shrugged, "I am sure. Sadly we are not all of us born into this agreeableness that you speak so highly of."

Rebekah secretly rolled her eyes, "quit being all bitter, Niklaus, and do employ your time with something more productive. You should be attending to all those eligible young ladies out there."

"And let them weigh my worth in their calculating little minds? Working tooth and nail to win their affection so as to secure myself an acceptable future?" Klaus raised an eyebrow at Rebekah, "like you?"

For a second Rebekah looked hurt, the corner of her lips contorting into a trembling angle, but the next moment she looked Klaus square in the eyes, her voice low but harsh, "yes, like me. We sell ourselves to the highest bidder or we end up with only soup on our tables and wormholes in our clothes, always feeling lesser."

Klaus glared at her, his tone ice cold, "You do not have to remind me that father left me nothing in his will, little sister. I know more than anyone I am the bastard son that he loathed. I am reminded every minute when I so shamelessly reside in the dwellings that he, in his last words, strictly forbade me from ever setting foot on."

"Hush!" Rebekah tugged at his sleeve hastily, "no one knows except those present at the will reading, and it best stays that way."

Klaus scowled at her. Mikael had been the master puppeteer in revealing in his will the dirty secret that Niklaus was, in fact, the result of an affair between Lady Leyndarvatn and another man. All his life Klaus lived under the degrading words and merciless beatings of his supposed father, being none the wiser, and just when he thought he may be free for once he was pushed into another cage.

 _A farewell slap in the face_ , as Klaus had come to call it in his own head.

He did not know if he would have liked to know it from the day he could remember anything, or be kept in oblivion for as long as he lived. Just like he didn't know whether he wanted to shout out the secret at the top of his lungs for all to know, or bury it along with Mikael's ugly corpse. It was a never-ending tug-of-war in his mind these days.

His brother was kind enough to disregard Mikael's words about turning Klaus out of their family home as delirious talking. It took him more than a week to persuade Klaus to stay. But now everywhere he went in the estate he saw Mikael's shadow in the corner of his eyes, like the ghost of King Hamlet. Though instead of asking Klaus to avenge him, the ghost merely sneered and looked on.

However scorching his fury was, Klaus knew he had no chance battling a ghost. He was again left with no choice but to wear the defeat as his besmirched skin, as the air that surrounded him and the manner in which he carried himself.

Rebekah, however, did not share his pensive mood, "I am not reminding you of anything whatsoever. I am beseeching you to have some sense. It would not hurt anyone if you would just deign to talk to some of the ladies." She gestured inconspicuously with her chin towards the dance floor, "how about one of the Petrova sisters? Indeed their family became wealthy through trades but at least they are not hard to look at."

"All Petrovas are vying for the affection of Lord Leyndarvatn, I am afraid, including Mr. Petrov." Klaus replied absently, his eyes swiftly flitting through the dance floor to the side, spotting the lady he had seen earlier, who was now speaking with another dark-haired gentleman, her face still blocked from his sight, "you should have seen him trying to compliment his lordship on his dress tonight. It was most disconcerting."

Rebekah snorted a laugh, "I am utterly relieved to have missed that. Then how about Lady Camille O'Connell? Her brother passed away so the inheritance will probably go to her uncle, but it is said that her mother brought into the marriage quite a fortune."

The lady in blue was now putting her arm on the man next to her, and quite comfortably in Klaus' observation. An unbidden bout of jealousy pierced through his heart and Klaus had to laugh inwardly at the sour ache. To be jealous over a lady he had yet seen the face of? That was unfathomable even to him. But then again, her diamond eardrops were dangling so happily among the golden tendrils of her hair and Klaus could almost see her laughter in their dancing gleam. And what a beautiful laugh it was.

"Are you even listening to me?"

"Yes, of course I am. And I think my silence can perfectly suffice for an answer to your suggestion of Lady Camille."

Rebekah huffed, "just be grateful I am not sharing your delightful insights with other ladies. If I ever did all the charms in the world would not save you from being shunned by every one of them."

"You say that like it is the most dreadful thing." Klaus watched as the lady in blue tucked a strand of her hair behind her ear, baring her perfect earlobe. He longed to tuck the hair for her, to see the blush rise up her pale skin when his finger accidentally brushed the back of her ear. The man talking to her was now walking away, and her back was turned to him as she saw him off.

"It could be," Rebekah drawled, something calculating in her voice, "if the one shunning you happens to be the one you cannot stop staring at."

His head jerked back at her, taken by surprise, but he soon realized his slip and feigned nonchalance, "I was merely curious. I do not recognize her."

"I am sure you will get acquainted with her quite soon, one way or another." Rebekah smirked, "but from the goodness of my heart I will spare you the trouble of asking around." The edges of her grin turned a bit sharp and a sinister feeling crept up Klaus' spine, " _that_ is Lady Augustins, wife of the Baron of Augustins, whom she was just so intimately chatting with."

Klaus swallowed hard as his heart sank, and for a moment it felt almost like he was gorging down his own treacherous heart, painfully and ignorantly, with dire consequences.

He had been with a lot of women, and it never deterred him if some of them were bound by wedlock. So what if they had to cover their faces with veils and the darkness of the night? Wear capes to conceal the dirt and leaves they got on their flimsy dresses? Hug their fools of husbands with the sweat he worked them into? Everyone suspected something but no one dared speak it out loud. The tragedy and travesty of it all.

But to think about involving with _her_ in such a manner put a sick twitch to his stomach.

He could not help but looked back in her direction, and his breath was instantly taken away when this time, he was met with her eyes. Her heartbreakingly blue eyes. He would not say that the lady in blue-nay, _Lady Augustins_ -was more handsome than his imagination, even if he was not aware that he was imagining. However, she beat his poor imagination in that she was glowing with her realness. Where his mind's portrayal had presumed with the perfect jaw line, she showed the round cheeks like fruits ripe in the warm August sun; where he had put in thick brows, she took his attention by a single expressive flash of lashes; where he had pictured porcelain skin, she possessed the tiniest of freckles just waiting to be kissed.

She exuded light, warmth, and _life_. And his whole imagination melted away when her rosy lips curled into a knowing smile. _She had known he was looking at her this whole time but she was smiling at him_.

Like a man hearing the songs of sirens, Klaus followed Lady Augustins as she turned around to exit the ball room, without a second thought, regardless of whatever Rebekah was still saying to him, the memory of her blinding smile the one thing guiding his sunken heart back midair, stranded, and fluttering.

* * *

The breath of plants and earth was damp on his skin as Klaus wandered through the vast garden. The sound of crowd and music remained but a floating hint in the air, like a lingering but vague dream as you came to your consciousness in a half-sleep state. He, too, felt like a man trudging through dream land, unsure of his true destination at this point.

He had somehow lost track of Lady Augustins. She had long since disappeared from his sight, and the only things guiding Klaus through the darkness was his keen sense of instinct and the fringe of her gown turning to this direction from afar.

The gravels in the narrow path were lit up by the full moon high above his head and the cold, silver light crunched at his feet. For once in his life the silence of the garden at nighttime actually soothed him, with small expectations bubbling through. When he was young the shadows were filled with the vengeful delight of rebellion and the underlying fear of Mikael's wrath when he found him missing from whatever social occasion they were attending at the moment. When he got older the peaceful views were contorted by the thrills of the nameless trysts and sadly, still, the dread of Mikael and the pain he might induce.

It was never like this. He was never _enjoying himself_ like this, as if it would not have mattered if he did not find the lady that was calling to his heart.

But as soon as that thought passed the back of his mind he found her from the corner of his eye.

She was standing by a blossoming rose bush at the entrance of the garden maze, her dark blue shawl slightly brushing against the tiny leaves, the soft fabric whispering sweet nonsense to the awaiting plant. The scent of roses seemed stronger in her presence, like the poor flowers were eagerly vying for her attention. But still, she bent a little and leant forward to a single flower-one only half blossoming, its petals nervously drawing in to the dark red center.

Klaus watched intently as she held out a hand just under the rose in a gentle cupping gesture, but not actually touching it. She tentatively took a shallow whiff, and immediately tilted her head to the side as if to make sure that her breath did not hurt the delicate flower. Then finally, she half closed her eyes and slowly drew a long, deep breath, her eyelashes trembling against her cheekbones as a smile of pure joy tinted her lips.

The whole scene was utterly mesmerizing and Klaus nearly forgot to breathe if not for the soft but playful voice bringing him out of his trance, "it is not my place to remind you of certain manners, seeing as we have yet been properly introduced. But even if I am merely talking to myself, I would state that it is impolite to stare without announcing one's presence."

"My sincere apologies, my lady." Klaus cleared his throat, "it was never my intention to offend you with my rude behavior. But in my defense I simply forgot myself because of your unparalleled beauty and elegance."

"So you are implying that I should take the blame for your breaching of the common decorum?"

"On the contrary, I was stating every reason that I am willing to take any blame for you."

The chuckle she let out at his words melted his heart-that was, if there were still anything left to be melted. In fact, from the moment that Lady Augustins opened her mouth Klaus felt like his insides were turning into liquid and he was but thrumming veins of hot emotions. She was still standing with her side to him, but Klaus could see the mischievous glint in her eyes as she replied, "does that include my misstep of talking to a stranger?"

Klaus smirked, "I beg to differ, my lady. I would hardly call myself a stranger."

"And why, pray tell, is that?"

She was finally turning to face him, and Klaus had to pause a second to collect himself at the sight of her flawless face before answering, "Lady Rose there," he gestured at the rose she was just smelling, "is quite an upstanding and accomplished figure. I was honored to make her acquaintance earlier in the day, and I believe she was telling you some nice things about yours truly seconds ago."

Lady Augustins clasped her gloved hands in front of herself and lifted an eyebrow, giving him a challenging look, "despite my fondness of their house, I am afraid I do not speak their tongue very well. So would you kindly translate Lady Rose's scintillating words for me, Mr. Hardly-A-Stranger?"

Stepping closer until they were face to face, Klaus breathed out a laugh, "I dare not claim myself an expert, either. But if I was not mistaken she was saying that this young man standing before you is named Niklaus Mikaelson. That he may never recover from the impact of seeing your beautiful face, and that if you ever felt a sliver of mercy on him, you would grant him your lovely name to soothe a man's parched soul."

"I imagined you to be shameless enough as to brag about yourself when given the chance," Lady Augustins snorted, but smile was still clear in her eyes, "but even my imagination could not have reached this level of shamelessness."

"Oh, believe me my lady, I feel every bit of the shame. But a man is always emboldened by the admiration for a lady."

"Forgive me, Mr. Mikaelson, when I say that in my experience men are more often than not emboldened by their own egos, and yet they use ladies as an excuse for their boldness, which ironically enough, makes them exactly the opposite of what they claim to be."

"True as that observation may be," Klaus grinned as he reached around her and plucked a pale pink rose from the side of the bush, his arm dangerously close to her waist. Picking out the tiny thorns from the stem he continued, "I cannot help but be curious. Do I count as one of the average men who supplied yet another evidence to your induction, or does my _boldness_ ," he put the rose into her hair, his eyes searching hers for any anger or discomfort, but finding none, "spur yours?"

Lady Augustins reached up to tenderly touch the flower in her hair, the azure blue of her eyes glimmering, "you may well surprise me yet, Mr. Mikaelson." And all of a sudden her face broke into an unreadable smile, "but it is my belief that all righteous courage should be rewarded, which is why I am now allowing you to learn my name. It is Caroline."

"I can honestly say that I have never met anyone more befitting of the name." His voice was raspy and restrained, an itch tickling from the bottom of his heart.

Lady Augustins- _Caroline_ -seemed to have seen right through him. Her gaze grew more intent, as if daring him to run that melodious name between his lips and let its vibrations graze his throat, even if they both knew how imprudent it would be for him to call out the first name of a married woman. But still, he mouthed the name silently, caressing each syllable with his flesh and bones, squinting at her when the tip of his tongue made the inevitable contact with his palate, watching on with triumph as a slight shiver rippled through her body.

But she regained her composure soon, chuckling softly as she turned slightly to the side, looking into the long dark lanes of the maze, "Lorenzo always said that it cannot do me justice, for it is a name too common and bland to stand out. According to his lordship I should be named with something much more…scandalous."

It was not hard to deduce who "Lorenzo" was and it threw Klaus a little that Caroline would call her husband by his first name while conversing with another. The familiarity and intimacy of her tone burned him unexpectedly that it took him a while to register the content of her words, "I know it is wrong of me to accuse Lord Augustins of anything, but how could he possibly say things like that about his own wife?"

Contrary to his indignation, Caroline's chuckle only grew louder, amusement clear on her face, "oh pray do not fret, Mr. Mikaelson. It is but a private joke between us with no ill implication to my dignity. You see, Lorenzo and I have known each other for many years, long before we became the couple as everyone saw us. He understood my disparagement of the hypocritical rules of society, but he could not resist the temptation of making some harmless fun of me whenever the opportunity arose."

Klaus was befuddled to say the least. He had always prided himself in being able to read women, and he would not hesitate to say that the feelings Caroline harbored for him were not a figment of his imagination. But in his years of being an unapologetic Lothario Klaus gathered one thing: women looking for an affair with him did not wish to speak about their husbands. And on the rare occasions that they did, their tone was never affectionate like Caroline's.

Even his own mother did not speak of Mikael that way. Her voice was always too serious and heavy when it came to matters concerning the lord of the house, sometimes with more reverence, sometimes more fear, but never with this…this amiable closeness. It was almost friend-like to the ears of an outsider, a special bond that his parents never reached from Klaus' standpoint.

But suddenly it dawned on him that his mother was one of _those women_. She could be the one sneaking out of a ball, knowing full well that a man she had barely known was following behind. She could be the one giving out her first name and let flowers be put in her hair. Would she have said anything, anything at all, about her husband? Would she talk about Mikael with the distain that Klaus himself employed, or would she dismiss him indifferently with a slight frown, like she later did with Klaus?

His heart was instantly torn to pieces, from the acid of jealousy, the fire of rage, and the icy coldness of what could have happened, or rather, could have _never_ happened.

But what came out of his mouth was devoid of emotions, "so you are a woman who likes to play against the rules?"

Caroline reached out to caress the thick hedges that formed the outer wall of the maze, "it would be more accurate to say that I conduct myself _outside_ of those rules."

"You have me confused there, my lady."

"Are you familiar with mazes, Mr. Mikaelson?" She took a few steps forward into the entrance and Klaus could not help but follow her. The garden maze they had in this estate was a large one, with hedges taller than an average man. The plant was grown with great care and the branches were thick with leaves, leaving no room for any curious intruders to peek through, making it impossible to deliberate the right path without much trying.

"I cannot say that I am." He looked into the long paths barely lit up by the moonlight, "it might sound strange considering the amount of time we spent here through the years, but my father was not particularly impressed with such activities as maze-discovering."

"It is quite a shame." Caroline threw a glance back to make sure he was following before she took a left turn at the corner, "mazes are fascinating artifacts. This one, for example, is clearly an imitation of the Hampton Court maze, which dated back to more than a hundred years ago. Yet its ingenuity has not dwindled through the passing of time."

Her fingers grazed along the hedge walls as they ambled through the maze, the quiet noises relaxed Klaus as well as grounding him. His mind was only half on her words as the other half was idly considering the possibility of gripping her delicate fingers in his hold. "Anyone with a keen mind and great knowledge would win my admirations, but I have to say it is even more attractive when a handsome lady appears so."

That earned him a half snort from Caroline, but her voice was tinged with a playful lightness, "I can understand the draw to beauty, Mr. Mikalson, but incessantly talking about it would not grant you easier access to the object of your obsession."

Before he could think of a smart comeback, she abruptly stopped and turned around. The next second her forefinger was pressed against Klaus' lips, which stunned him to silence. "Hush now," she berated softly, "I am not quite done answering your former question." With that she turned around again and resumed her walk, and Klaus followed in a hazy daze, the sensation of her finger still hot and tingly on his lips.

"The common rule in these mazes is to always take the left turn." Caroline picked up the conversation from where they left it, "it is by no means the shortest cut, and you may meet a few dead ends, but eventually you will be able to get to the center."

"That sounds quite boring if you ask me."

"Indeed it is." As if to demonstrate the point, Caroline deliberately took a right turn at the next fork, which Klaus followed with a smirk.

"Again you have proved my point," He clasped his hands behind him in a smug stance although she could not see him, "it is in your nature to go against the rules."

But to his surprise, a few steps forward they were blocked by a hedge wall. Caroline turned around with a smug smirk of her own, "nay, it is in my nature to disregard the rules." She tilted her head to the side, a mischievous light to her eyes, "I never did say I was leading you on the right path."

Klaus slowly paced to stand in front of her, his upper body bent just the slightest bit so that his eyes were half shielded by his own lashes, "I sense that there is still more of this explanation."

"You are a quick-learner, Mr. Mikaelson." Caroline took half a step back until she was leaning on the hedge wall behind her, all the while holding his gaze, "do you not find some similarity between mazes and the lives we are leading? You may follow the rules and go the safe but windy journey, or you may break them and end up either faster than anyone, or trapped beyond saving."

Her breath was hot on his cheek and Klaus realized that he was leaning in closer to her without noticing himself. Her eyes were fixed on him, whirls of blue twinkling with a hypnotizing fervor, "but ask yourself this one thing: why do we have to reach the center as expected of us, when we can do…this?"

At the last word she reached up to cup his cheek with both of her hands. She must have dropped her gloves at some point during her speech, because he could feel the warmth of her fingertips with no barriers. He could feel an accelerating pulse where their skin touched, though he could not tell whom it belongs to.

He leant down ever so slowly, as his arm circled her waist to bring her closer. He could now smell the rose that he had earlier put in her hair, the sweet fragrance mixing with her intoxicating scent, making him dizzy with need. The need to devour her right this second, consequences be damned.

Yet consequences seemed to catch up with him much sooner in this case.

Just as his lips were descending on Caroline's, a voice interrupted, "is it not a little impertinent, my lady, to make these decisions without consulting one's husband?"

Klaus' body went rigid. It was just his luck to be caught in the action by none other than Lord Augustins himself.

But to his utter shock Caroline did not seem the least disturbed. A little annoyed, maybe. She caressed his cheek one more time and pressed a feather light kiss to the corner of his mouth before releasing him and straightening up, "you always said that you valued my free spirits beyond anything, my lord. It would not do well to go back on your words, now would it?"

Trying hard to suppress the sensations of Caroline's lips sealed on his skin, Klaus turned back to face Lord Augustins, who was now standing just a few steps from them. He was a man with dark hair and dark brown eyes, which surprisingly did not hold the indignation that Klaus had pictured. If anything, they were lit up with mischief akin to Caroline's, and a hint of intrigue directed at _him_.

His mind was reeling and he functioned through Caroline's introductions in a haze. As much as he had been involved in this kind of affairs, never once had he had the pleasure of meeting the husband in such an awkward occasion. He was, however, pulled out of his own head when Lord Augustins addressed him directly, "I see you have managed to catch the eyes of my lovely wife. An unusual feat, I might add, for she could be very fastidious when she wished to be."

Again, there was no animosity in his voice, but Klaus had to bite the inside of his mouth to force out a reply, "I could not possibly take your compliments without any humility, my lord. It has been a pleasure to be in the company of Lady Augustins, a fact that I am sure you can vouch for more than myself."

Lord Augustins snorted a laugh, but not unkindly, "somehow I doubt humility is a color that suits you, Mr. Mikaelson, or else I would not have found you here of all places, and now of all time." The grin on his face grew more facetious as he glanced at Caroline, "as for the pleasantness of my wife's company, I have to say that my opinion vary according to the situation at hand."

"And what about now?" Caroline spoke up, sauntering over to Lord Augustins' side, meeting him square in the eyes.

"Well," Lord Augustins drawled as he brought Caroline's body flush against his, and Caroline willingly leaned into him like a rootless vine, "I am quite sad that you abandoned me at the ball to have fun yourself, and I am equally vexed that you did not even think to include me." He winked at Caroline suggestively, "but nothing a little good-fashioned _punishment_ could not fix."

Klaus' jaw could have dropped if not for Caroline's reply further shocking him into stone.

"Oh Lorenzo," Caroline gave Lord Augustins a loud peck on the cheek that would have been most inappropriate in the public eyes, "you say the sweetest things."

Klaus did not know what was going on. He had not been this clueless for a long time, and he did not miss the feeling one bit. He was not sure if this was a game, or a ruse, or the two people in front of him had just gone mad due to some acute disease. But apparently, his suffering had not yet ended, as the conversation between Lord and Lady Augustins continued.

"You have got yourself a nice flower there." Lord Augustins craned his neck to the side to observe the rose in Caroline's hair, "it is very good taste." It could be just a misconception but Klaus could have sworn Lord Augustins very subtly threw a glance at him.

Caroline touched the rose tenderly like she first did when Klaus had put it there, and Klaus' heart skipped a beat at the familiar gesture. "You think so?" He heard her whisper, and he marveled at the smile blossoming at her lips. But again, he felt her eyes flickering in his direction for a brief second, which made him even more confused and suspicious.

Lord Augustins nodded as he loosened his grip on Caroline to turn around, fully facing Klaus. There was no mistake now whom he was staring at. "But who would I be if I do not try to get some entertainment of my own out of this?"

The vague words did not bode well in Klaus' ears and the frivolous tone of Lord Augustins angered Klaus immensely. He clenched his fists and met Lord Augutins' eyes with a firm scowl, "I apologize for having offended your honor in my thoughtless behavior, my lord, and I would willingly take any punishment that you deem acceptable. However, I do not think it necessary to bring further humiliation to Lady Augustins as…"

"No need for the gallantry, Mr. Mikaelson." Lord Augustins interrupted him with a wave of his hand, "Lady Augustins and I have a long-established understanding between us."

The glint of mischief was back in his eyes, as well as Caroline's, and Klaus looked on in utter disbelief, with a sliver of jealousy cutting through his clouded mind that they were in on a secret from which he was excluded.

"Tell me, Mr. Mikaelson," Lord Augustins smirked at him, "what think you of a well-balanced ménage à trois?"

Klaus' throat seemed to have closed off at the shocking question. But Lord Augustins was clearly not expecting an instant answer, or that Klaus' stunned expression served as enough of a satisfaction, for he merely held up his arm for Caroline to take, "I think it is time to retire for the night. So if you will excuse us." He nodded at Klaus with a crooked smile, "and do consider the offer, Mr. Mikaelson."

Caroline quietly bid him good night, her eyes shining vaguely in the darkness. Klaus could not interpret those ever-changing gleams in the deep pools of blue, as they continued to mingle in his mind long after she turned her back on him. One moment he read amusement, the next apology, and yet the next pure lust.

Never had he met a woman that messed with his head this much. And to think that he had not even _danced_ with her yet.

Klaus hung his head tiredly, letting out a frustrated sigh. Something on the ground caught his attention with their soft silver glow. He picked up the gloves that Caroline had dropped on the ground earlier. Leaning back on the hedge wall where Caroline had been just minutes ago, Klaus absently thought about how he did not get to hold her hands once through their venture into the maze, while feeling the cold, silky surface of the gloves with his tentative fingers.

* * *

The drawing room was quieting down late into the night, when everyone seemed to be tired of the card games. Gone were the lively chatter and bustle of actions, the air of the room no longer flowed like watercolor with its clarity and fluidity. Instead it resembled more and more of an oil painting as the night lazily dragged on, completed with muffled voices, stilled positions and faces of undetermined secret intentions, or merely boredom.

Klaus sipped the wine by the window as he looked on. His mother, along with some of the older guests had already retired for the night some time earlier. As predicted, Lord Leyndarvatn was sitting in an armchair near the fire place, occupying himself with a tome. The Petrova sisters were crammed into a chaise at the side of the room, their nearly identical faces drawn together by some inane gossip. In the far end of the room, Lady Rebekah sat at the piano, her fingers absently pressing on random keys as she was deep in conversation with, surprisingly, Lord Augustins. Whose wife was seated all alone at the abandoned card table.

Caroline wore a much simpler gown than the other night. The short-sleeved white gown fitted her perfectly, and the underdress was of a light rose color, the soft hue easily seen through the covering fabric. She was not wearing any accessories, save for the silver chain around her neck and a tiny diamond comb that held up her blonde hair. She seemed quite absorbed with a deck of cards, drawing ones out and setting them in a mysterious pattern with a little smile dangling at her lips.

Klaus had barely spoken to her since their parting at the maze, partly due to the difference of their activities through the day (she was, apparently, taken out for a tour of their estate), and partly due to his own stubbornness. He was not the least bit pleased with what she and Lord Augustins suggested last night, and the sleepless night he had after that did not help his mood either.

The only things he learned about her today were that she and Lord Augustins were among the many guests of their house party, and that she much preferred apricot ice-cream over trifles.

"When, pray tell, are you going to spare some of that obsessive attention of yours to grant your brother, who is actually having wine with you, instead of ignoring your blatant stares and pretending to be enjoying himself, Mr. Mikaelson?"

"I have no idea what nonsense you are talking about, Mr. Mikaelson." Klaus reluctantly tore his gaze away from Caroline to glare at his younger brother Kol.

To his credit, Kol raised his glass with a somewhat sheepish expression, "whatever you say, Nik. After all what do I know about married ladies? I enjoy chasing the unmarried ones way too much. You on the other hand…" A salacious grin crept up his face, "I can still remember the way Lady Aurora _Castle_ struggled to keep her stockings in place with the garters _missing_. Now that was a view worth seen at least once in your life time."

"Have some class, Kol." Klaus frowned at him, "you do not have to repeat everything you have witnessed in detail."

"Oh but I am too giving a person to not share them with anyone." Kol winked, and much to Klaus' annoyance, leant over to whisper in his ears, "like how you have not gone a minute without staring at the fair Lady Augustins, even if she sat all the way down the other side of the table at dinner. Or how you clench your teeth every time you see her and Lord Augustins exchange a look and smile at each other across the table. They are quite the lovely couple, aren't they? Well, just like that!" He exclaimed gesturing at Klaus' tense jaw, "brilliant demonstration brother. I knew we worked best as a team."

Klaus took a sip of his wine, not deigning to answer his brother's childish jabs. He knew he was not being exactly discreet, but he simply could not help himself in Caroline's presence. He wanted to ask her if what happened last night was nothing but a sick joke, if she was trying to lure him into making a fool of himself. But more eager was the desire to ask nothing at all but to ravish her right on the spot, to hell with all the prying eyes.

"It just got better." True to his words, Kol was diligently reporting to him the happenings around them, "she is staring back now."

Klaus went rigid upon hearing those words. It took all his self-restraint to remain composed and focuses on his own glass without glancing in her direction.

"Most curious," Kol drawled with much suspense in his voice, clearly excited by the situation, "now her _husband_ is staring at you."

Klaus' head snapped up, only quick enough to catch Lord and Lady Augustins sharing another unreadable smiles of theirs. He was fed up with it. Whatever trick they were playing, he would not be a part of it, and he would make sure that Caroline knew that. He thrust his glass into Kol's hand without even a side glance at him, "do me a favor and go bother someone else for the rest of the night."

He paid no heed to Kol's faint snicker as he approached Caroline at the card table.

She silently assented to his joining her, but made no attempt to start the conversation. Her eyes were trained on him though, a touch of curiosity under the deep blue surface. Klaus took the deck of cards that she left on the table when he sat down and started shuffling.

"Do you, per chance, fancy another game, Lady Augustins?" He was going to take things into his own hands and deep down he knew that she would not say no. Not when she had not got whatever she was after yet.

Caroline's lips curled slightly, "I imagine the ladies would be rather taken with you when you take the initiative like this, Mr. Mikaelson. And when they are taken with you, they would hardly reject a chance to spend time with you, would they?"

"I will take that as an affirmative then." He smirked, glancing at her pointedly from under his lashes.

"Do not be so hasty." Caroline reached over to halt his shuffling, her fingers grazing against his, making them both jump a little in their seats. She cleared her throat, "tell me about this game you proposed. I have a feeling it will be quite different."

Klaus' smirk widened, "well, I was thinking of a bet to be precise. We can bet on any card game of your choosing."

Caroline bit her lower lip, her eyes searching his. Klaus was giving her nothing, not even showing the pull he felt over her little gesture. She grinned back, "vingt-et-un then. I always liked the…possibility of it."

"Very well. Then we will play two rounds, and take the role of the dealer in turn. If the winner is not determined by then we will add another round and I shall ask my brother Kol to deal for us."

"That sounds fair. And what of the wager?"

Klaus licked his lips like a wild predator, "whoever wins gets to ask one thing of the other, and it must be fulfilled."

"Have I ever told you that I like the way your mind works, Mr. Mikaelson?" Caroline gave him a knowing smile. Klaus had never doubted her intelligence since their first encounter. They both knew what that wager would entail. It did not matter who won at the end. Only one thing would happen.

The only question now was when, and how. Or rather, on whose terms.

He pushed the deck of cards across the table, "ladies first."

His first card was two of hearts. Caroline puts the card in front of him with the elegance of a swan, but her eyes raking over him were cunning as a fox. And they were making him warm. Very warm. He swallowed, nodding silently, signaling her to deal the next card.

King of diamonds.

"A fitting card, do you not think so?" Caroline whispered. Her voice sounded lower than usual, but it went right through him, tickling at his heart and other unknown or unspeakable parts of his body.

"I cannot say that I agree." Klaus shifted in his seat, "I always thought the spades more suitable for myself."

"Just because they are dark?" Caroline snorted, "that is such a h-men thing to say."

Klaus squinted at her slip, but did not pursue it. He just raised an eyebrow for her to elaborate.

Caroline traced the outline of the diamond shape on the card, "diamonds are much harder and stronger than you think. They are born out of darkness, yet they shine." She blinked a few times, a blush creeping up her cheeks. It was a look Klaus had yet to see on her before. If not for the daring act last night, Klaus would even go so far as to say that it was one of shyness. But when she looked up and her eyes held his with all the longing unveiled, he realized that he was not mistaken.

"They shine brighter than anything in sight."

Klaus could feel his heart beating so violently in his ribcage that for a moment he was concerned everyone in the room would hear the unnatural sound. It was raging inside him like thunder and Caroline's eyes on him were the lightening striking through. She, too, seemed lost in the moment, her pink lips slightly parted as if waiting to be kissed.

The look made Klaus grin, his composure suddenly back in place, but the heat running through him did not die down one beat. However, this time he leant forward with much confidence, "should you not be dealing your own card, my lady?" He softly tapped at the table, "or are you forgetting your duty as the dealer so soon?"

Caroline let out a tiny gasp, finally returning to herself. The blush on her cheeks only grew deeper, "As you must have gathered from my speech, Mr. Mikaelson, I am partial to shiny things. In this case, your fine blue eyes." The shyness on her face faded away as she spoke, replaced by something fierce yet seductive. The Caroline from last night was back. "I own that it is one of the biggest weaknesses of mine."

"Pray forgive my rudeness, my lady." Klaus leaned back in his chair, now prepared for their outside of the cards, "but do you not have those yourself? Extremely stunning ones, might I add."

"That I do. But it is most unfortunate that they are already in my possession. You on the other hand..." Caroline looked him up and down as she drew another card out of the deck, but she did not show it on the table right away, just sticking it under her chin with a half grin.

Klaus mirrored her posture, tapping his own chin lightly with his forefinger, "So you are saying that, were you to take hold of me in your dainty palms, you would discard me in the ficklest fashion within the next minute I presume?"

Caroline batted her lashes at him coyly, "With the depths of those eyes, I doubt it is possible to ever gain the entirety of you. I dare say one would never get enough."

"But alas, this discussion is purely hypothetical."

"We shall see." She finally put her card face up on the table. Queen of hearts. "What is your choice, Mr. Mikaelson?"

Klaus considered. Two of the tens were already out, but there were only two people playing, so the chance of busting was still high. But on the other hand, he was not that far ahead with his points. Caroline could easily trump him with the next card. He was never one to shy away from taking risks, or he would not have suggested the bet in the first place.

"I will double down."

Caroline did not seem surprised at his decision, "what do you propose to add to the wager?"

Klaus lowered his voice as he already feel several pair of eyes in the room were on them, "a pair of white silk gloves in the finest quality." He smirked smugly at her, "rest assured that they had only been worn by an accomplished lady as beautiful as you."

"Are you sure Mr. Mikaelson?" Caroline eyed him challengingly, "they sound like a treasured item of yours. I would hate to pilfer them out of your possession."

"No need to worry on my concern my lady. I have a feeling that I shall not have to part with them after all."

"So sure of yourself." Caroline huffed a laugh, "and if you win?"

"I want that comb in your hair. _When_ I win this round."

Caroline shook her head slightly, making the light reflected from the comb dancing in her golden tresses, "not a day ago you gifted me with something to adorn my hair, and now you want to take adornment away from it. Yet you have the nerve to call me fickle."

"In my dense, my actions may change along with the circumstances," Klaus caught her eyes and held them still, keeping the focus of her mind and body solely on him until their breaths came out in synchronization, "but it was all for one thing."

A long moment and a myriad of emotions passed in their tangled sight and Caroline whispered, her voice ever so gentle, yet lined with invisible thunder, "then what are we waiting for?"

Her wrist flicked as his last card dropped on the table. Eight of spades. Klaus breathed a sigh of relief. The total was rather high, which put him in a slight advantage. Unless Caroline got an Ace for the next card, she would not beat him.

"Ready to settle the wager?" He lifted an eyebrow at her, eyeing her comb pointedly.

"Let us not get ahead of ourselves so fast." Caroline said as she drew another card from the deck and placed it right next to her queen of hearts.

It was the king of clubs.

Caroline let out a quiet giggle as she saw Klaus' face drop, "I remember once scoffing at someone who told me that cards were magical things, and that they could somehow see through the players' fate. I called her a charlatan right to her face. But now I have to concede I may have made the conjecture too hastily." Her lips curled teasingly at him, "is it not interesting, Mr. Mikaelson, that we should have two kings and a queen in one round?"

Klaus could not control the scowl that was forming on his face. Not being able to win was one thing, but having Caroline throwing the inane insinuation at him was quite another. He was done talking in riddles. "Let me get one thing straight, _Caroline_ ," he kept his voice low so as not to draw the attention of others in the room, but he made sure to let the name graze his throat as if it were her very flesh. He was satisfied to hear the gasp under her breath, "I am still winning this game. It has nothing to do with cards, or fate, or your sketchy husband. I _will_ get what I want, and deep down you know it. Because you want the same thing."

Caroline stared at him, expressionless, her lips pressed into a thin line. As the moment dragged on Klaus was beginning to fear if this time he had taken it too far. But he would not back down.

Then suddenly Caroline reached up and took the comb out of her hair in one swift move. Her blonde curls cascaded down her shoulders like waterfalls and for a split second Klaus had to squint to see her smile in the golden glow. Something hard and cold was pressed into his hand. He looked down, realizing that the comb was now in his possession.

"As I have told you once, Mr. Mikaelson, I believe that all righteous courage should be rewarded." Caroline set out to gather the cards, her smile turning into a conspiratorial smirk, "but a tie is a tie, so we still have one more round to determine the winner."

Klaus was about to respond but he sensed Lord Augustins approaching the table. He nodded at Klaus before going to Caroline's side, "is everything all right, my lady?" He pushed a few strands of wild hair out of her face, "we were getting quite concerned over there." He made a gesture with his chin towards the direction he came in, where Klaus did not need to turn around to know that Lady Rebekah was craning her neck inconspicuously this way, studiously pretending she was not eavesdropping.

Only now did Klaus realize the eyes of the whole room were on them, though everyone was trying to not look too obvious-even Lord Leyndarvatn himself was no longer head deep into his book.

"Oh, it was nothing. Just that my comb broke out of the blue and Mr. Mikaelson here has kindly offered to have it fixed." Caroline spoke with the most saccharine voice he had heard her uttered yet. He noticed that she only used that tone and pitch of voice when she and Lord Augustins were in public, almost as if they were putting on an act.

"That was indeed very gentlemanly of you, Mr. Mikaelson." Lord Augustins addressed him before turning back to Caroline, "but let me offer my own piece of gallantry." He took his handkerchief out from his waistcoat and tied Caroline's hair into a loose side braid.

Caroline batted her eyelashes up at him and covered his hand on her shoulder, "oh Lorenzo."

Oh sweet heavens. Klaus almost rolled his eyes at the loving scene that must have played hundreds of times during the last day. He had overheard (or been forcibly subjected to) the longing gushing about "their unconcealed affection towards each other" from his sister and at least five other women, house maids included.

But at least when Lord Augustins walked away to leave them to their ongoing bet, the piano was making meaningless sounds again and the book had earned back Lord Leyndarvatn's full attention.

Making sure the comb was secured in his own waistcoat, Klaus was only too eager to take the shuffled cards from Caroline and forget about this interlude. Caroline watched him with that signature smirk of hers, nodding silently to give him permission to precede.

Her first card was, out of all fifty-two of them, three of hearts.

Caroline let out a giggle, "and you still do not believe in the cards?"

But this time Klaus could tell it was more of a joke than anything suggestive, so he only shrugged, "oh I believe in them. Just you see." He winked at her as he drew out the next card.

Two of spades.

"Well, would you look at that?" Klaus likes his lips with a grin, "maybe the superstition did have some merit after all."

Caroline merely smiled and gestured him to go on.

Klaus dealt his own card. It was a nine. He did not give it much thought before placing another card on her side at her confirmation.

Three of clubs.

Klaus bit his lips, again vexed. But soon he realized Caroline's eyes were on his lips, and his eyes could not help but be drawn to hers. He wondered how they would feel against his own. Soft? Scorching? Trembling? Fierce? Like the suffering of life, or an imposing death (yet of neither he would be fearful if it were _her_ )?

But he was not there yet. Not when they still had a bet at hand. He dropped another card from the deck.

Two of diamonds.

Their eyes snapped up from the telling card and glued together, not able to part as long as a blink. Klaus whispered his voice suddenly hoarse, "do you still want me to hit you?"

Her eyes grew weak at his words as if melting, but her voice was heated steel, "yes."

As if spelled the last card slid from his fingers, landing right in the middle of the table. The single red square in the center made his breath hitch, but despite its signaling his own defeat, the pattern only sent a hot flow of anticipation rushing through his veins. Ace of diamonds.

She hit twenty-one points.

* * *

Music and laughter were booming from downstairs, sounding so out of place in the silence of the second floor. The contrast felt almost surreal, as if he was standing on a plate floating above the common ways of living. Or it may be the other way round, in which case his whole view of the world was tilted, and he was in fact hanging precariously upside-down in the dungeon under the normal imagery of life.

Klaus felt oddly bemused and calmed at the thought, the notion of being a belligerent instilling vigor in his body. Truth be told, he had been on edge ever since Caroline won their bet last night. She had immediately given the terms of her request-just the terms, not the request itself, about which Klaus would only learn if he were to come to her chambers the next evening.

"Is that not considered cheating?" He had asked her, "for the wager stated only one thing but you are already asking for two, if not more."

"Indeed it is. But would you risk throwing away your gallantry and going back on your words to get out of my obvious trap?"

Her cheekiness astounded him, but he could respect a woman who spoke things as they were. Which was why he excused himself from the gathering downstairs earlier, and was now pacing in front of the door of her chambers.

He did not quite understand why his nerves were acting up. He had done this countless of times before, more often than not outside the secure confines of the house even. Sometimes he thought he did it for the sole purpose of riling Mikael up, of hearing him spitting in contempt how Klaus could only prove his self-worth "with the fake affections of cheap women".

Klaus would glare or smile coldly at him, and retort silently in his head that Mikael could not even hold that of his own wife.

But it was different this time somehow. He did not by any means see Caroline as cheap-though part of her intentions still remained unclear-and Mikael was not there to find out about it. He never would. Yet his presence felt stronger than ever, slithering along the walls and roaming the ends of the corridor, eyes with no emotions other than scorn and mockery hovering over his shoulder.

Watching his every move from the inside of his mind.

Klaus was never a superstitious man, but the feeling of being half-possessed was too real to be ignored. He could clearly read the thoughts in all those eyes, could hear their vicious whispers. That he was making a fool of himself. That he was merely a play thing for the woman that had plagued his dream from the day he met her. That he was too weak to deny her, to deny _himself_ , even if he was well aware of all those possibilities.

And he glared and smiled coldly at the void, as he finally knocked on Caroline's door.

She opened the door with a little smile, and swiftly moved aside to let him in before closing it behind. Instead of following him further inside, she leant idly on the door, the posture reminding him of the night in the maze. "Good evening Mr. Mikaelson. I see you have made good on your promise."

The room was only dimly lit by several candles and her figure was half concealed by the darkness, but Klaus drank her in all the more greedily. She was in a plain night shift, a white bed-jacket loosely wrapped around her shoulders, untied in the front. Her hair was down in curls, catching every bit of the candlelight. Klaus was secretly pleased at that sight-he could hardly push down the disappointment the other night when Lord Augustins tied those beautiful waves into a braid.

"Good evening to you, my lady." He slowly reached inside his waistcoat and pulled the gloves out with a smirk, "I came bearing gifts."

Caroline eyed him critically, leaving the gloves dangling from the tip of his fingers, "gifting me with my own things. At least I cannot fault you for being unoriginal."

"You see, that is exactly the point." Klaus sauntered towards her until they were nose to nose, pressing the gloves into her soft hand, "now every time you see them, you will be reminded of the man whom you left a piece of yourself with."

"Can you not say one compliment without being offensive at the same time?" Caroline frowned, but there was laughter hidden in her voice.

"That I can." He leaned closer to her, her sweet scent inundating his senses as he was sure his were doing to her, "You look so beautiful this evening. I have been dying to lay my lips on yours ever since I entered the room."

She pushed herself up from the door and brought her lips closer to his, her breath tingling on his skin, "then what are you waiting for?"

"I would hate to distract us from the right track of business." Klaus suddenly drew back, his smile roguish and teasing, "there is, after all, a purpose to this _rendezvous_ of ours, is there not?"

Caroline's features changed in a second, now looking sharp and composed, as if she knew Klaus was not going to go through with his advances, "it is good to see a man with the right sense of priority, Mr. Mikaelson."

She walked to the other end of the room where a work table was placed between two large windows, and sat on the stool in front of the table, gesturing for him to take another seat in the armchair by one of the windows facing the four-poster bed. Setting the gloves aside, she crossed her hands in her lap, her eyes firmly fixed on his face, "let me reassure you that it would not draw any ill feelings from my part if you are having cold feet."

"You think so low of me, my lady." Klaus squinted at her with a half-grin, "but pray do tell me what you request of me, so I can show you that your opinions were misguided."

"As you wish." Caroline smiled cryptically and the next words out of her mouth had Klaus almost jumping out of his seat, "I want you to steal your family heirloom from me."

From the way she said it she could mean only one thing. "The ring?" Klaus uttered incredulously.

Caroline nodded, "the ring."

Klaus breathed a deep sigh, running a hand along his jaw. The ruby ring, or as called by those in the know, "the dragon ring", was a treasured collection of Mikael's. Rumor had it that the ancestors of the Mikaelson family were once dragon slayers, and that they had procured the precious ring from the beast's den during a brutal hunt. Klaus had never seen the ring himself, only heard his brother Elijah describe it to him after Mikael showed it to Elijah when he turned sixteen years of age.

"I have never seen anything so…intimidating, Niklaus. Do not take me wrong, it was indeed beautiful beyond description but it was also heavy in every sense of the word." He remembered Elijah telling him, a faraway look in his brown eyes, "it would make anyone doubt their capabilities of keeping hold of it, including myself. But I think father was trying to tell me that I had to shoulder the responsibility for our family, prepared or not. It was not a choice."

Yet it was. Not on Elijah's part perhaps, but on Mikael's. To this day Klaus could recall the secret longing his teenage-self had felt hearing those words, that burning question eating at his heart of why he could not be burdened with the same expectation, and the accompanying shame of coveting what had never been his by birthright.

And he would not be that _boy_ anymore.

"I am most sorry my lady," Klaus said after the long pause, his voice devoid of any emotions, "but I am afraid I do have to go back on my words after all."

"And why is that?"

"Because that ring you asked for belongs to the Lord Leyndarvatn." That title tasted like sawdust in his mouth but he bit down with force, "and I am not about to gain it in the fashion you proposed."

To his surprise, Caroline merely snorted, "did I not tell you about my attitude toward social conventions?"

"Enlightening as that speech was," Klaus retorted, annoyed by her making light of this, "the case in discussion is different. I am not refusing because traditions, or the law, I am refusing because…"

"Because your father deemed you unworthy of having it?"

Her unbidden words cut deep and hot rage burst through the gushing wound. Klaus glared at her, a deep roar grazing roughly out of his throat, "do not pretend that you know anything about me or my family!"

Caroline met his glowering eyes without a flinch, "I was not pretending, just stating a fact. Your family is wealthy and reputable enough to last for at least a few more generations. I do not see Lord Leyndarvatn loosing anything of consequence if the ring goes missing. So I can only assume that you are unwilling due to the chains that your father left on you."

Klaus bristled. How dare she speak of such things! To even mention that man in front of him, and to imply that he had any lingering hold on him. He was not in chains, not for a long time and especially not after Mikael was buried six feet underground. He would have broken the shackles to pieces with his bare hands if they were substantial, burn them into running hot fluid and pour it on Mikael's grave until that fetid piece of land he occupied could no longer be covered in even a stem of withering grass.

But they were not. And Klaus was him own man. Klaus was his own man with eyes of another watching him from inside.

He threw angry words at her but they sounded like desperation in his ears, "whatever you say, I will not have you manipulate me into bringing disgrace to the family."

 _Bringing disgrace to the family?_ He heard those eyes snicker. _Now you sound like me, boy._

"Why do you care?" Though seeming to have sensed his restlessness, Caroline did not let on. If anything, her inquiries only got sharper, dissecting and eviscerating him until he was weak to his wearied bones and empty in his once loaded heart, "Your mother did not care enough, or there would not be you. Your father did not care when he deprived you of any entails and left your family to the public suspicion and gossips. Your siblings would not care because, thank goodness, they were wise not to be poisoned by your father's words."

"I will ask you one more time, Niklaus," the use of his given name startled him, but her voice was suddenly soothing like a gentle breeze, "what is there to care about?"

Klaus closed his eyes briefly, before opening them to stare at the bed, the sheets and pillows so tidy he could have believed that no one had ever slept in them. But he wondered just how many unspeakable things had been done on them, witnessed by them, or spoken around them. How many tears, how much despair, how little sense.

Still he avoided her eyes, although he could tell just by the tone of her voice that there was no pity in them, nor was there accusation or ridicule. She was genuinely curious, which felt almost unbelievable considering what she already knew, "where did you hear such things?"

"I know many things, Mr. Mikaelson, more than people would ever imagine."

He did not doubt that. He also did not point out that she had not exactly answered his question. Slowly, Klaus turned around to face her again, storm raging in his eyes but his voice barely a whisper, "you cannot expect these things to go unnoticed. People will find out, and I will be the talk of the town for months, even years to come." He sighed, and then let out a bitter chuckle, "you are forcing me out of my own home."

"I am not forcing you to do anything." Caroline stood up, ambling to the little shelf between the bed and the armchair Klaus occupied, where a candle was placed on top. She held out a hand to it, her fingers dangerously near the flame, as if teasing it, or taming it, "although I do wonder what it is that has kept you here."

Klaus held his tongue. He could not let her know that he had been wondering the same thing himself.

"As for the town's people," she snorted a soft laugh, "they will forget it soon enough. Everything fades in time."

Her face was outlined by the flickering candle light and for a moment she seemed much older than she appeared to be, the blue of her eyes completely covered by the reds and oranges of the flame. Klaus watched entranced as she put a finger to the body of the candle to catch a drop of falling wax, her eyes squinting a little at the sensations while her lips curled into a blissful smile, as if she could not feel the burn at all.

"Everything fades, except those rare particles that give off their own light. They glow, they burn, they incite and inflame. They turn their surroundings upside-down. It is hardly beautiful, but it is the only way to leave a mark."

That last statement was not entirely true though. She was blinding his eyes and burning him to ashes but she was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Klaus' breath hitched as Caroline turned to him and sucked the tip of that finger into her mouth, her tongue circling it for a full round before letting it fall to the side of her body, "So, Mr. Mikaelson, would you rather be remembered as the notorious pariah, or nothing at all?"

"I can see what your choice is." Klaus propped up his elbow on the arm of the chair, two fingers gripping his chin as he studied her like the most intricate puzzle, of which he dared to say that he was starting to have a rough image in mind.

"If you are thinking of either of the two, you are terribly mistaken." Caroline let the night-jacket slide off her creamy shoulder, the motion tantalizingly slow and sensual, "I much prefer being the mysterious kind. The one whose ill reputation run for miles, but whose face no one recognized; whose misconduct ring like the devil's pitchfork, but whose name no one ever speak of-that is, except her lovers." She moaned the last word out, dropping her shift on the ground.

Klaus felt himself harden painfully at the sight. She was stark naked in front of him, her pale skin tone warmed by the candle light. Thousands of shades of red, orange and gold ran wild along her perfect curves and contours like a flowing stream of fire. She inhaled and the flames soared, she sighed and they dripped off her like sweltering syrup of amber.

But of all the flames she groomed, the blues of her eyes were the hottest of them all. No coquettish shame, no calculating seduction, only unadulterated, pure, _lust_.

With all the will power he could muster, Klaus managed to stay still, though his member was straining in his suddenly-too-tight breeches, "are you trying to bribe me, my lady?"

She only threw him a side glance, sitting onto the bed and leaning back in the piled up pillows, her hand cupping a breast so naturally and absently, "do you need me to?"

No, he did not. Deep down Klaus was well aware that the moment she made the request, the option of backing down was simply inexistent. He was sick of this haunted house, with its omnipresent prying eyes-both living and dead. The only eyes he wanted on him were hers.

And it seemed that the craving was not one-sided.

Without a word, Caroline propped a leg on the edge of the bed, the other still dangling down. Her swollen center was on full display before him, and the wetness was glistening so invitingly in the flickering light. She reached down to dip a finger in, coating it with the sweet nectar before smearing it on one of her already taut nipples, "Do you not fancy a taste?"

Klaus half-cursed, half-bellowed under his uneven breath. The next thing he knew, he was crouching right between her separated legs, sucking on her wetted nipple long and hard. Caroline moaned, falling further back against the headboard, sticking out her breasts in his eager face. Klaus continued to circle his tongue around the nipple while reaching up to tweak the other in between his fingers. Caroline's body jerked, and Klaus bit back a contented chuckle around her hot skin.

He felt Caroline's fingers sink into his own curls. "I see you have an evil mind of your own, Mr. Mikaelson," she rasped, "and an evil tongue."

The formal address brought an unexpected surge of anger through his lust-filled mind. Flesh against flesh yet he was still _Mr. Mikaelson_ , a vague face and a generic name and nothing more. He would never be the one whose cheeks she kissed in public, whose name she called with a joyous spark in her eyes, who shared every secret in life with her-secrets like _him_.

With a last devious bite he released Caroline's nipple, straightening up to swallow her gasp with his possessive lips, roughly stirring her mouth with her own lingering scent before he abandoned it in throbbing want as well. Creeping down her neck he sucked on her pulse point hard till he could feel the thin layer of skin straining between his teeth like silk that was about to tear. At her sharp intake of breath he soothed the spot with his tongue, blowing air at it drawing her involuntary shivers.

"My apologies, my lady," he scattered kisses along her neck and jaw line until he reached her ear, her heavy breaths hot and steamy on his own neck, "for that is surely going to leave a mark. What would Lord Augustins say when he sees it? Will he mark you also? Will he make you moan and whimper so shamelessly like this, like the wanton that you are?" He kneaded her breasts carelessly with one palm while the other sank into her messy curls and gripped with controlled force, "he even braided your hair for you the other night. But will he grab them just the way you want and make you hurt so delightfully?"

"As _delightful_ as your ministrations are," Caroline struggled to turn around and bit him softly on the earlobe as a warning, "I assure you that your talk of Lorenzo will only dampen the mood."

"Why?" Klaus loosened his hold on her breasts, his hand swiftly reaching down to give her a brief but harsh brush right brush on the clitoris, earning her short muffled scream in the crook of his neck, her body curling in around his, "because you do feel the guilt of cheating on him?"

"Because," Caroline pushed Klaus on the chest to put some distance between them, her strength taking him by surprise, "Lorenzo is not truly my husband."

That was surprising knowledge indeed. But more surprising was the fact that as Klaus looked her right in the eyes, he instantly believed her. Those blue orbs were completely clear and open, through which her soul bared just like her body. That very thought turned the raging blaze inside Klaus to simmering flames, warming him and slowly awakening every hidden sense around his body that he had not even known existed.

Probably taking his silence as suspicion, Caroline sighed, "he is just a friend. We have known each other for a very long time and I only pretend to be his wife for the convenience of it all." She curled a strand of her hair around her little finger and grinned roguishly, "you would not believe the privileges a woman could acquire just by staying married. Even better if she snatched a husband with a proper title."

Klaus could not help but chuckle at that, "on the contrary, I can very much believe so." He closed the distance between them, showering open-mouthed kisses along her collar bones down to the valley between her breasts. He savored the taste of her skin as much as the mewling noises coming out of her throat.

"Does that mean you are inclined to stop your ridiculous, albeit adorable, acts of jealousy for now," She looked down at him through her thick eyelashes, "Niklaus?"

He felt himself harden even more at her calling his given name, and from the smirk on her face she expected that effect. She was so beautiful in this moment, fiery yet playful, knowing but still anticipating. However, Klaus was sure of one thing. He could make her a thousand times more beautiful in the next.

Pulling both of her legs down till her behind was resting just on the edge of the bed, Klaus kneeled before her dripping sex. "Yes," he kept both his hands firmly on her parted knees, giving her one last devious smirk filled with mischievous promises, "and call me Klaus." Before the last word was fully off his lips, he dived into her trembling warmth.

She tasted sweet and pungent, like a wild rose on fire, and he devoured her scorching petals with greed. Caroline's moans floated into his ears, broken syllables and unintelligible noises, the only coherent thing the name that he put on the tip of her tongue.

He circled her swollen clitoris with great care, tapping and lapping and everything in between until her hips were buckling violently against his mouth in need. "Klaus, please…" She let out a frustrated whimper as he sucked the little bundle of nerves in between his lips, only to release it in a fleeting second, blowing a gentle breath on the glistening erection. Tremors rippled along her whole body, peaking in her throbbing core in an uncontrollable convulse.

"Since you asked so nicely…my sweet Caroline." Klaus wrapped his lips around her clitoris again, this time thrusting his forefinger into her in one swift move. Caroline cried out at the intense sensation, her legs involuntarily parting wider to allow his better access.

Klaus grinned around her wetness, adding another finger while his tongue pushes faster and more fiercely on top. He could feel Caroline contracting tightly around his knuckles, so close to her impending climax, her hands reaching down blindly till she found his curls and she sank her fingers deep into them, keeping him locked to her heat with the unscrupulous avarice of a lioness.

Stopping the movement of his tongue for a minute, Klaus whispered, making sure his lips were brushing her sensitive surface, "you can now remember me as the man who gave you the best orgasm of your life, sweetheart." Then he curled his fingers onto that sweet spot inside her and pressed in synchronization with his tongue, one, two, three times-

Caroline's back abruptly arched into midair, a long scream wrenching out of her as her sex clenched painfully around him, convulsing intermittently, sending waves of shivers to her extremities. Klaus raised his head, but continued to rub his fingers inside of her until she went completely limp in his supporting arm, spent by the explosive ecstasy.

"It is such a relief that your actions match your conceited words." Caroline said after a while, pulling Klaus up to sit beside her on the bed, her voice still hoarse from sex, "that was indeed a nice way to remember you by."

"Et voilà," Klaus put a hand on his heart to fake the hurt look, "I knew you would discard me to the side as soon as you have had me."

"No need to worry. How would I ever implement my nefarious plans without your help?"

Klaus tensed at that, but he fought to keep his tone light, "and here I thought you would have forgot all about it after I worked my magic on you."

But as usual, Caroline was quick to poke at the truth behind his camouflage, "why did you even agree if you have so many reservations about it? I would like to think that I left you enough of a choice."

Klaus gave her a wry smile, "you say that, but it seems to me as if life is constantly forcing me to take the darker path. And in that sense, I have far fewer choices than you would believe."

"What you are going to do is no worse than what we are doing now, nor is it better than what I am sure you did in the past." Caroline stood up and walked backwards to the window, pulling him along with her via the collar of his shirt, "and it is exactly the same as what everyone does day in, day out."

Suddenly she tugged at the corner of the drapes and they fell to the side, leaving the huge window exposed in sight and her naked figure exposed in the window.

"Caroline…" He hastily reached around her, trying to remedy the result of her instant insanity, but she blocked him with her body, the body that was glowing in the moonlight with immeasurable honesty and belligerence, "do you see yourself as a sinner?"

Klaus wanted to deny it. But as if mocking his self-deception he saw Mikael's sinister ghost just beyond the glass. And it dawned on him that it did not matter what he thought. He was already a sinner by birth, and he always would be, because he was the bastard son of Lord and Lady Leyndarvatn.

Yet again Caroline interrupted his falling into his own abyss. She drew him close with her arms, her lips against his neck hot as the coal of hell, sealing kisses along his vein as she whispered, "look, Klaus. Just look."

And he did as he was told. Beyond her shoulder, through the window, he saw the deserted garden beneath them, swallowed by darkness and travesties of a noble, refined life. Upstanding lords and ladies concealing their affairs in the shadow, maidens weeping or cursing, men drunk beyond repair, a spat here and a brawl there, as meaningless as they came. He loathed the scene so fiercely but he could not bring himself to look away.

"As far as I am concerned, the true sinners are those who do not own what they commit, or do not see it for what it truly is. Other than that, there is no way to tell all of us apart." As she uttered those words, her hands stole their way down to the front buttons of his breeches, freeing his manhood which was still hard as iron. Leaning back on the window and wrapping a leg around his waist, she rubbed her sex against his hardness, arousal wet and messy running amok in her eyes, "we are but on the opposite sides of the window."

Klaus groaned from the need burning down every sensible cord in his head, but in the scorching lust his heart felt more determined than ever, "then let them watch what they can never have." With that he sank himself into Caroline's velvety core, letting the primal instincts take control.

His last coherent thought was that Caroline's face as he entered her should be carved into marble, disguised as a sculpture of an angel hymning to the holy spirits, and put right in the center of the garden spring.

* * *

 _Go to the late Lord Leyndarvatn's study. Lorenzo and I would be questioned wandering the halls, for only your family occupy that floor._

Klaus wondered why exactly it was that Caroline knew so much about his family, but that was a question he would save for later. For now, the imperative for him was to recall everything she told him the other night, and finish his job without unnecessary mistakes-or any mistakes, for that matter-and as quickly as possible.

Caroline was not wrong when she decided to steer clear of the crime scene. There was another ball downstairs tonight, to welcome some family moving into town for the summer, and Klaus did not bother to learn their name. He would not be there anyway. Once again he would be the one of the host family so unruly that he dared to sneak out the ball and leave all those vapid ladies and lords unattended.

It was a good time to commit the misdeed, for everyone would be in the ballroom; but it was not without risks, as anyone would be suspicious were they to catch him roaming without a cause.

He had already run into Lord Leydarvatn when he was just about to go up the stairs, the latter excusing himself shortly from the ballroom to see to the refreshments. It made Klaus nervous beyond belief when his brother called out to him, the secret he harbored sitting heavily on his chest casting his forced smile in a dark shadow.

But Elijah surprised him, "I understand if you need some quiet time alone. These past days must have been wearing on you. Do not worry, I will cover for you in front of mother."

Klaus frowned, something in Elijah's tone alarming him, "you do not have to, brother. There is simply nothing to be covered for. I got bored, so I abandoned the ball. People can say whatever they want."

"Niklaus…" Elijah seemed to be deliberating his words quite carefully in his mind, which was a rare occurrence on his part, for he had always been an eloquent man, quick and thorough in his responds, "sometimes I doubt if I made the right decision asking you to stay. It was a selfish act of mine to keep our family whole, but I am starting to see that it may not be the best choice for you."

"Ouch," Klaus lightly snorted, half-smirk in place, "have I already outstayed my welcome?"

"You know well that was not what I meant." Elijah sighed as he lowered his voice, his eyes fixed on Klaus' face as if to gauge his reaction, "I saw the way you were with Lady Augustins."

Klaus tensed immediately, but not for the reasons he was sure Elijah would have ventured, "and what, pray tell, is that?"

"Do not let her use you Niklaus. This life and…what it entails can be taxing, but you need not let them drag you down."

"Believe me brother," a small smile crept onto the corner of his lips, "she is hardly a dead weight." Caroline was quite the opposite if he was speaking the whole truth.

Elijah studied him for a long quiet moment, before nodding pensively, if not a bit curious, "very well. I shall leave you to your own devices then." Before turning to go back into the ball room he added with a smirk, "you have always been a trouble-maker, Niklaus. I would not expect anything less of you."

Little did he know that Klaus' trouble-making involved sneaking into Mikael's old study and stealing the dragon ring that their family had treasured for generations. Klaus could not help but genuinely wonder what his reaction would be once he found out. Not if, once-of that Klaus was certain.

Although the maids came in to clean every day the room still had a deadly scent to it, as if something was decomposing in the darkest corner. Klaus had never cared for the room as he grew up-not that he had much chance to see the inside of it anyway. It was Mikael's personal fort, and he only called his children in to scold them when they did something irrevocably wrong, throwing his brutal words at them behind his desk like a fully-armored general ordering the shooting of arrows on the city wall.

But that was no more. Klaus would attack his fortress from the inside out.

 _The ring is hidden in a safe somewhere in the room. It may be under a certain disguise so check carefully._

Klaus searched around the room, repulsed by everything in his sight. From the eyes of a stranger it was probably just a normal study, big heavy desk and imposing book shelves with nothing out of place. But to Klaus the room was teeming with harsh memories that he would rather not reminisce for the rest of his life. They intrude into his view on each step of his hunt, reminding him that no matter how much he had grown, in Mikael's territory he would risk being reduced to that scared little boy with all the resentment and confusion in the world but not a single outlet.

After getting nothing from the bookshelves he came to check the desk in the center of the room. There were the usual things, the quill, the ink-holder, the blotter, the bronze oval paperweight with a crow carved on the surface that Mikael once threw at his head, the dagger-shaped letter knife that Klaus had imagined countless times to stab Mikael with.

Klaus opened the drawer of the desk and the only thing in there was the quires of paper, foolscap watermark clear in place. He remembered once thinking that the silly crowns were in fact laughing at Mikael during one of his tirades, and the un-concealable grin that notion put on his face earned him a beating harder even than usual.

He closed the drawer and paced to the far end of the study, where a bronze shield was hanging on the wall. Among all the other despicable objects in the room this one Klaus hated the most. It was a favorite of Mikael's, one he had polished regularly and despite it being an antique the surface glowed brightly like a looking glass in the moonlight. When he was around thirteen years Mikael had once dragged him in front of the shield and forced him to look inside like he was the abominable creature Medusa in the flesh.

" _Look at yourself, boy._ " To this day he could hear his vicious hiss, " _look at that coward. That weakling. That is you, and nothing more._ "

Without a falter in his step Klaus stalked to the shield and took it off with vengeful triumph. Just what he thought. Hidden behind it in the wall, was indeed the safe he had sought after.

 _It would be locked, of course, but you can always find something handy to break the door. The thing I am concerned with is the alarm system that he must have built in. Once the door of the safe is broken by force, the alarm bells will go off. So be prepared-you will not have much time to leave the scene._

Klaus tried the door and it was locked, just like he and Caroline expected. Now he only needed a tool to break it into pieces.

His eyes landed on the closest corner of the room, and he realized that he was not wrong when he thought that something rotten continued to contaminate the room after Mikael's death. There it was, in all its malicious glory, Mikael's walking stick.

Klaus could not even remember the times it landed on Elijah, or Kol, but mostly himself. He once thought he would grow used to the pain, and he did, however burning and cutting it was, however long the wounds kept him up at night. But one thing he never did get used to was the weight of the vile thing. It was heavy from all the iron it was instilled with but it was so much more.

He had almost been regretful that the pain did not consume him every time that vile thing landed on his back. He could still sense his brother's frantic eyes so Elijah's guilt was on him. He could hear the cries of his sister, so Rebekah's dread was on him also. And he could sense his mother's slight flinches so that little discomfort was again on him-yes, that was all it was to her though, a discomfort, the kind you feel when you see in the distance a farmer whipping a cow.

That weight had been on his back for as long as he could remember, nearly breaking him, but not quite. And since he was spared after all, he was going to use it to break something of Mikael's.

With fire in his eyes he grabbed the stick and swung it towards the safe, putting all of his strength into the strike. A loud crash later, there was no more sticks or doors, only splinters of wood lying on the floor in defeat.

When the alarm bells went off all around the house, Klaus was already inside the secret passage leading out that he had known by heart since childhood, with his pocket heavier by one ring, but his heart lighter than ever.

* * *

Klaus had many reasons to believe that he was verily inside a dream. Of his own or some other lunatic's making, that he could not be sure-but he should think that his mind was not capable of conjuring up this amount of insanity.

Where did he even begin to list all the strange things that had happened to him in the few minutes after he broke Mikael's safe? Everything went in a blur and now he was flying only god knows how many miles above ground, with the alarm bells still shrieking in his ears and the flames of his family stables in the far end of his sight.

How was there even a fire? Was that Caroline's doing? Or it could be Lorenzo. The guests of the ball must have been in such a chaos that no one would have noticed his missing, probably not until tomorrow morning. But what would happen after that? Surely they would discover the steal by then and he was very much in need of a plan. He did not even know where he was going to land right now.

But the paramount question was: how did he end up on the back of a _dragon_?

In Klaus' defense it all happened very fast. One minute he was running out of the secret tunnels wondering in his mind what Caroline meant by "I will see to it that you have a means of transport on your way of escape", and the next the majestic creature just landed on the lawn right in front of him, smelling like fire and smoke. If Klaus were to be honest its huge scary eyes (or rather, _eye_ , because that was all he could see from his low standpoint) almost looked amused, probably due to the fact that he dropped down on his bottom so awkwardly in the blast of wind it stirred up.

Klaus was not done gaping when the dragon tapped the tip of its tail on the ground impatiently, making undoubtedly the whole part of land shook. Seeing that Klaus still did not understand its intentions, the dragon huffed another smoky breath, gesturing with its spiky head towards its lowered back before glaring at Klaus menacingly. Klaus had no choice but to scramble to his feet and climb on by way of its tail.

When the initial shock wore off, Klaus finally started to notice his surroundings. He had to admit that in spite of its scandalous reputation, the dragon looked beautiful in the moonlight. Its scales were of a bluish grey color, but if he stared in the right angle he could see the special shine to the surface, as if they were gilded in gold. Like when he turned his head to the back, its long tail appeared to be a golden river flowing in the darkness of the night sky. Unlike its head and tail, which were covered in hard thorns, the back of the dragon was quite smooth, cold under his touch, with a leathery feel to it.

But the most magnificent thing was its wings. Spread out beside its body, the wide organs flapped in a motion so elegant and regal, the exquisite rhythm reminding him of one of the concertos of Johann Sebastian Bach. The skin of the wings was thin as veil, almost transparent when they lifted up to block the moon from his sight.

It all still felt so surreal to Klaus. They were apparently out of the borders of his family's estate, and were now flying above the vast, night-befallen country land. The fields of crops and little cottages scattered around were barely visible, shrouded in the still of the darkness. The heaven seemed much closer to him than the land of the living, for he could see in his eyes more stars than human lights.

The only thing proving to him that he was not trapped in an illusion was the small hardness in his waistcoat. Klaus reached in to pull the ring out, examining it with critical eyes. Even at night the ruby had such a blinding gleam to it, impossible to ignore for anyone in its presence. That was the ring that Mikael had shown to Elijah, the ring that he held so tightly in his pathetic vice grip. In that moment Klaus had the sudden urge to throw the ring into the vastness below. Let it bring some meager joy to whoever Mikael would have deemed beneath him.

But he had already promised the ring to Caroline, so he settled for an impromptu baring of his for once free heart, "You have no hold on me!" He leaned back to shout at the sky, "do you hear me you old imp?"

Not even an echo sounded in his ears, just the wind flowing swiftly by. With a rueful smile Klaus put the ring back into his pocket, "what a fool I am. Of course you do not." He gave the heaven above him one more glance, "you would not be there."

Suddenly the dragon arched its back with so much strength Klaus was instantly thrown into midair. Fear gripped his heart as he tumbled in nothingness, no longer able to tell above from below. It was all a mix of darkness and silver streaks of light, and the dragon seemed to have disappeared into thin air.

Klaus felt himself starting to fall, the speed picking up with each passing second. _Was this it_? He should be grateful-he was finally out of the prison that he was trapped in for his short life, out of his own doing as much as others'. But all he could think of at this moment was that he did not even get to see another sunrise as a free man.

 _It could even be a sunrise seen from dragon-back._

However, as sudden as it started, the dragon swooped in from under him, taking him again on its back in its way of ascent. Klaus struggled to sit up straight, his heart beating wildly in his chest, in his ears, in his muscles and skin, until the whole world was nothing if not his own deafening heartbeat.

The relief and epiphany ensued, rushing through his veins like small doses of lightening, making his body sparkling all around in overwhelming sensations. He was so close to death. But he was also so close to all things opposite to death, all things that can never be claimed by death, things that shine tenaciously on the precipice of mortality like splashes of golden daffodils.

Out of the blue, Klaus started to laugh. A loud, rich, resounding laugh that he had not experienced in years. He shook his head at the dragon although he knew it could not see him, "I appreciate the neat trick, mate. But next time maybe a little head warning would be nice."

The dragon- _heaven forbid_ -rolled its eyes at him. And there was definitely a snort and a few sparks of fire coming out of its nose.

Somehow Klaus understood its annoyance perfectly. Bending down on its back, he reached over to gently caress its neck, his voice warm as his hand, "my apologies, _sweetheart_."

 _She_ was, apparently, satisfied enough not to give a response.

Not long after that they landed on the bank of a small lake. The dragon crouched there silently giving Klaus access from its tail onto the lawn. The second his legs hit the ground Klaus realized how weak they really were, and that was when he noticed his whole body was shivering all over, half in excitement and half in the residues of fright.

He stood still for a moment, taking a few long breaths to compose himself before he cautiously dragged his heavy legs to see what the dragon was doing. To Klaus' utter surprise, he found her facing a small bush of wild roses by the lake, where a single red rose was just sprouting its delicate bud, wavering slightly in the summer breeze.

Klaus watched in fascination as the dragon carefully folded her wings away from the rose, sticking her nose slowly in the direction as close as possible, but not touching. She tentatively took a shallow whiff, and immediately tilted her head to the side as if to make sure that her breath did not hurt the little flower. Then finally, she half closed her eyes and slowly drew a long, deep breath, her eyelids trembling in bliss as a soft, deep hum flowed from her chest.

In that very moment, everything clicked in Klaus' mind.

He only knew one person-or one _dragon_ , who smelled a rose in a gesture that could melt his heart.

And person or dragon, he would not let her go.

* * *

When Lord Augustins finally came through the door of the drawing room to Whitmore Park, his family estate, Klaus had already become quite the expert on all matters concerning dragons, or rather, _the_ dragon.

He knew what she fed on (human food was fine by her while she stayed in her human form, but when she transformed she sometimes go hunt a sheep or two); what her disposition was as a dragon (dragon Caroline was much more temperamental than human Caroline, as Klaus had experienced); how far she could fly (for _months_ -she measured that by time, not distance); what her dragon name was (it sounded surprisingly similar to Caroline, with a few strange consonants he could not pronounce, but her family name was Forbes in human language).

He also learned her history with the Mikaelson family, although that part Klaus could have mostly guessed by himself. Like what he thought, the dragon ring was taken by the Mikaelson dragon slayers from Caroline when she was still very young and defenseless, but she managed to escape their ruthless swords. She spent several centuries roaming the continent before coming back here about two decades ago, and had been waiting for the perfect opportunity to get her ring back ever since.

Klaus had asked her why she was still fixed on the ring after so many years, to which Caroline answered with a smirk and a pointed look, "we are very possessive creatures, Klaus. That ring was my first collection. The moment I laid my eyes on that ruby, I fell in love with it. And I never let go of anything that I have my eyes on."

They were idly talking about Caroline's transforming magic (she did just step out of the steams fully clothed a few hours ago) when Lorenzo burst into the room, "I see you two had an uneventful night. Sadly the same could not be said about me."

Caroline immediately got up to her feet and rushed to hug him, "Lorenzo! Are you alright? Did they get suspicious?"

Lorenzo brought her in closer and kissed her gently on the cheek, all the while smirking at a fuming Klaus, "calm down, my lady. They barely had to time to process anything yet. First there was the _accidental_ fire…"

"Please tell me you saved the horses as we had agreed on!" Caroline jumped out of his embrace, staring at him inquisitively.

Lorenzo rolled his eyes at her, "really? You left me at the crime scene of you and your beau here," he stuck his chin out towards Klaus before continuing, "and the first thing you ask about is the horses? Have you no heart?"

Caroline merely snorted, "do not be so sensitive. It is nothing personal." A smirk danced on her lips, "the horses are just much more innocent in this than you ever will be."

"Guilty as charged." Lorenzo gave a playful salute, "and relax, I released them long before you released hell's fire on that poor little stable. They did not even run far-a few had already been found by the time I bid them farewell."

Klaus frowned at that, "how _did_ you get out of the house party?"

"I am so touched that you are concerned about my well-being, Mr. Mikaelson." Lorenzo stalked over with Caroline in tow, sitting on the sofa beside Klaus, "but I had some solid excuses. For one, the fire gave everyone quite a scare, and I was not the only guest who wished to go home and 'calm my nerves'. But unlike other guests, I had also recently suffered the loss of a personal matter…" he chuckled at that and already Klaus had a sinister feeling up his spine, "since my lovely wife here chose to elope with one of the Mikaelson brothers last night."

"I beg your pardon?" Klaus' eyes almost fell out of their sockets. Of all the reasons he could have made up for Caroline's and his absence he had to go with _that_.

"Oh pray do not fret." Lorenzo waved a hand, "if it is any consolation, Lord Leydarvatn did not even seem that surprised. He was more concerned that I would take some drastic measures towards you. Although Lady Rebekah had quite a few…unorthodox choice of words for you."

Klaus sighed at that. Given the last conversation he had with Elijah his reaction was not unexpected, though his concern for him still warmed his heart. And Rebekah was just…being Rebekah.

"And Mr. Mikaelson, well, the younger one, was kind enough to comfort this heartbroken husband for a few hours. I told him that I would rather not stay and be reminded of my wife's betrayal, to which he showed the utmost understanding." Lorenzo went on, "though I did get a feeling that he was merely playing along."

Before Klaus could respond to that, Caroline surprised them both by smacking Lorenzo on the back of his head, "you clown! Do not pretend that you were not doing this for your own fun."

"How very unladylike of you, Lady Augustins!" Lorenzo faked a shocked face, "and you have to admit it was a decent lie. It was rather believable given the behaviors of you two in the past few days-anyone with only one good eye could have predicted it. So they would never trace the stealing back to us."

Caroline huffed, a few stray curls bouncing along her flushed neck, "how is eloping, or being _cuckolded_ , better than stealing?"

"It is not." Lorenzo shrugged, "but is that not the best part?"

Caroline was still glaring at him, but her eyes were already softened by the smile that she was trying hard to hold in. The same could be said about Klaus. Not even a day ago, he would probably have been furious at Lorenzo's conducts, but now-maybe it was letting go of some of his burdens, or the seconds of floating just short of death-he was starting to grasp the hilarity of the whole thing.

Before they knew it, they were laughing uncontrollably together, and Lorenzo went to retrieve a bottle of wine and three glasses with a spring to his steps.

Seconds later, they each had a glass in hand.

"Look at us," Lorenzo swiveled the wine, his head slightly tilted to the side, "an unscrupulous rake," he gestured to Klaus and got a playful bow in return, "a convenient strumpet-" he then tipped his glass to Caroline, who rolled her eyes at him.

"-and an oaf." She finished the last part for him.

Surprisingly it was Klaus who gave the toast, "to being notorious." He winked to Caroline before they all drank to that.

Another glass later, tired from the chaos of a day, Lorenzo bid them good night. Despite the ups-and-downs of the night, Klaus still felt very much awake, and he put down his own glass to give Caroline a once-over, "I did not get a chance to tell you how beautiful you looked tonight."

She was still in her white tulle gown from the ball, the golden French embroidery along the sleeves and neckline shining against the alcohol-induced flush of her skin. And the smile on her face was infectious, making her whole aura glow quietly. Upon hearing his compliment, her smile grew deeper, "you have good eyes. This is my favorite gown. I thought I would wear it for the special occasion."

Klaus shook his head, "indeed the gown look ravishing on you. But I was talking about earlier. You were magnificent, sweetheart."

Realization dawned on Caroline as her cheeks blushed furiously, "only you could flirt with an anonymous dragon."

"I would hardly call you anonymous, Caroline. After all our families have been acquaintances for centuries. And I promise I would always flirt with you, in any shape or form." Klaus took out the ring that was still resting in his pocket and placed it in Caroline's palm, "Please take this as a token of my ineffable admiration."

"Again gifting me with my own things?" Caroline raised an eyebrow at him, "I am afraid this would become a habit of yours."

"It could be," Klaus tucked the few strands of hair behind her ear, planting a gentle kiss just beneath her earlobe, "if I stick around long enough."

Caroline nuzzled into his for a few moments before taking his hand, "let us put your token somewhere safe then, if there are bound to be more to come."

"Somewhere safe" turned out to be her vault. Klaus should not be surprised-it was but the equivalence of a cave in modern ages. What surprised him was the amount of precious-looking paintings, antiques, dresses and even tomes lining the walls and filling the shelves. He stood agape in the center of the grand hall, not sure where to put his eyes first.

Putting the ring inside a jewelry box on one of the shelves, Caroline looked back at him, grinning, "do not take the little trait of our species so literal. We do care much for the shiny objects, but our definition of that word could be quite different from what people would think." She ambled back to his side, tenderly caressing his cheek, "the gleam of treasure speaks not to mere eyes, but to heart and soul."

Klaus held her hand in his and placed a kiss inside her palm, "I just did not expect you would have such an impressive vault at Whitmore of all places."

Caroline smirked, "still jealous of that, are we?" She proceeded to take him for a small tour to the other end of the hall, "the old Lord and Lady Augustins passed away rather early. Lorenzo, as a dear friend, and the new Lord, offered me a place to stay for a few years. And if I ever leave for a long period of time, I would be fine with leaving these to his offspring."

"You seem unusually close to him, even as a friend." It was hard to keep the slight irritation out of his words, and Caroline was quick to catch it.

"Lorenzo ran into me by accident when he was still a little boy." Caroline her thumb soothingly along his knuckles, her eyes soft with nostalgia, "I watched him grow up, every step of the way. So our friendship does not always fit into the common connotations."

Klaus knew he was being petty, but an insistent thought kept eating at his covetous mind. He was around the same age as Lorenzo, and the estates of their families were not that far apart to begin with. Delusional or not, he could hardly stop himself from picturing meeting with Caroline, and getting close to her much earlier.

As if reading his thoughts, Caroline chuckled, "Lorenzo happened to venture into my cave at the time when I first met him. He tripped on a rock and fell. I can still remember those cries-they were resounding so loud in the cave I thought I would go deaf. I had to blow tiny flames in the air to cheer him up." She rolled her eyes a little, "somehow I doubt you would want that."

Klaus had to laugh at that, "you have a point. But still, I wish I had met you sooner." He turned his head aside to hide the wistful look in his eyes, but Caroline cupped his cheek and forced him to look at her right in the eyes.

"However curious I am about your disposition as a child or a younger man, I prefer you as you are now."

"Jaded?" Klaus offered with a wry smile.

Caroline shook her head, "with fear." She reached up to ease the frown forming between his brows, "there is nothing more fascinating than a man facing his demons. And winning."

Klaus grinned cheekily, stealing a kiss from her rosy lips that he had been staring at all night, "I do like winning."

Caroline licked her lips reminiscently for a second before snorting, "of course you do. If anything, that smugness of yours I could do without."

"Liar." Klaus leaned down to nip at her earlobe, satisfied at the gasps escaping out of her mouth, "you enjoy it just fine."

"Perhaps." Caroline broke away from him, a devilish glint in her eyes as she pushed open a side door behind her, pulling Klaus in with her, "but I would rather you prove it to me one more time."

Klaus gaped at the room piled with nothing but gold coins. Lit up by the candlelight, the golden glimmers swam in his vision like the busiest bees, buzzing in his head making him dizzy and disoriented. So he solely focused on Caroline instead, on her blonde hair that only seemed to glow more potently in the sea of gold, on her fiery blue eyes that were melting all the gold to liquid in their drowning depths.

He circled her waist suddenly and grinded against her, smirking at the way her eyes instantly turned glassy from lust, "I thought you said that it was not literal?"

Caroline moaned against his neck, "sometimes I still indulge in a little simple, old-fashioned delight." She fell back onto the piles of gold with a sigh, pulling Klaus down with her, "I am sure you could relate to the sentiment."

"But would you not get distracted?" Klaus grabbed a handful of coins and rained them on her half-bared breasts, watching them heaving and trembling with a teasing smile.

"How could I," Caroline smiled at him with her heart clear in her eyes and all the gold in the room paled in comparison, "when you shine so brightly?"


	10. Of All the Bad Timings in the World

**Author's Note:** _Of All the Bad Timings in the World (You Synced with Mine)_ , written for wrecklessrighter on AO3 ( strongbeautifulfulloflight on Tumblr). AH, Model!Caroline and Artist!Klaus, with Klatholine friendship.

* * *

Caroline could feel those eyes burning into her bared back.

It shouldn't have bothered her this much. After all, being stared at and focused on by a thousand lenses (be it mechanical or biological) from all angles is like the most basic thing in her line of work. You learned to make peace with it, grow into it, or even thrive in it. It was all about the presentation, how you carried yourself in people's sight.

You'd think a single pair of persistent eyes wouldn't rattle her like this. Especially considering she wasn't even facing the direction from which they were boring into her.

And she didn't think it had much to do with her current state of nudity. Sure this was the first time she'd been an art model but all in all the experience wasn't as unsettling as she'd thought. She was elevated on a table surrounded by a circle of about twenty students, seated mermaid style, half propped up by some cushions on her left side. Katherine had even arranged a throw around her to cover from abdomen to upper thigh.

The AC was working fine, she was feeling comfortable in her own skin despite the chilling weather outside, and the artistes-to-be were pretty immersed in their own creative work as far as she could tell. She might as well have been a bowl of fruit or a vase of flowers, which was totally fine by her.

Caroline had been quite apprehensive at first when her roommate slash best friend Katherine asked her to come model for her art class at the local night school.

"Just because it has 'model' in the job description doesn't mean I'm the person for it." She'd argued, "I don't know a thing about art modeling."

Katherine just gave her one of her classic half eye rolls while pulling off her paint stained T-shirt to wipe at her equally paint stained neck, "what's there to know about? Here's your example if you must have one-" she stopped mid-motion with only her blood red silk bra and a pair of boxers on, jutting out her hip, "be still, sans clothes."

"It's not that simple!" Caroline huffed, "aren't art models supposed to be…I don't know, curvy or something?"

Katherine threw the dirty shirt into the laundry hamper at the corner of their shared living room with a flip of her wrist, "your curves are just fine, Carebear. Plus," she added with a smirk, "the school's cutting budget yet again so it doesn't hurt to have the students use smaller canvases."

Caroline threw a pillow at her from the sofa, which she dodged effortlessly before winking back, "and can you really afford to say no to the easy money, Miss Crunchy-Bunny?"

She really couldn't. Not when she had already stooped to being the brand promoter of the local cereal company, aka "cereal girl" in bunny ears who pushed the product at frowning customers at any revenue of the company's choosing, every other day from 9 to 7.

Thank god the art modeling thing turned out to be better than she expected. She was used to the staring, and the sound of charcoals against paper actually soothed her nerves quite a bit to the point where she was mentally writing her to-do list for the next day, her fingers itching to get to the pen and planner ever present in her purse.

But that itching was nothing compared to the burning sensation on her back. She could sense the intense gaze with every fiber of her being. It wasn't the regular scrutiny of the art students where they dissect her body into tiny pixels that they rearrange in their head and then with their hands to conjure up the picture of their own inspiration.

No. It was the kind where the eyes roamed over her like incessant little flames, devouring her like marking their own entitled territory. _The predatory gaze_. Caroline snorted inwardly, both annoyed and a little curious about the most-probably-self-crowned alpha male sitting behind her back.

Truth be told, she rarely did get this kind of attention these days. Life as a struggling fashion model wanna-be wasn't close to as glamorous as everyone outside the business-or herself, a year ago-would have imagined. As her "guy" at the small commercial modeling company she'd signed up with who dished out scraps of work deals like a merciful god once told her, _too many pretty faces, too little heart to care_.

If there was one thing she had learned since she left everything and everyone at home without a back glance for the LA scene, it was that her beauty could be weighed, judged, neglected or discarded, just like cereal.

For the umpteenth time that month, Caroline, with a dismal heart, contemplated the latter part of "go big or go home".

A small clatter sound on the floor to her right side shook her out of her gloomy thoughts. Keeping her posture as best as she could, Caroline discreetly cast her eyes downward to find a charcoal pencil rolling out from under the table on which she was placed. And along with it the gaze hovering over her back for the past half-hour seemed to start moving.

She noticed the scent before she even heard the approaching footsteps. A calm woodsy base with something pungent, like tobacco or rum. Not the common citrusy smell so often found in men's cologne. Clearly someone with an impressive taste, and an equally impressive _ego_ to go with it. So when his voice vibrated just beside her ear, she didn't so much as move her eyeballs-no need to feed him the undeserved satisfaction.

"First time art modeling?"

Annnd a British accent. _Should have figured_.

Careful not to show the effect the perfectly measured cadence did to her body, Caroline whispered her eyes still downcast, "aren't you here to pick up your pencil?"

"If you insist." The voice all but purred against her jaw line with a slight hint of chuckle and Caroline felt an unexpected jolt tingling all through her body clad in nothing but cold air. Heat crept up her cheeks when she saw him taking a languid step forward, bending down in slow motion for the pencil, the taut muscles of his back stretching out deliciously under his grey Henley shirt and his tight jeans hugging his perfectly-shaped bottom.

Involuntarily Caroline tucked the throw closer around her body. But it was of no use when the man straightened up right in front of her, his blue-grey eyes setting on her with unveiled amusement, the few necklaces around his slender neck dangling just in her line of sight, tempting her treacherous heart. Caroline had never been more aware of her nakedness ever since she dropped her gown in the center of this classroom.

"Enjoyed the view?" He grinned cheekily.

Caroline offered a fake smile, her eyes glaring at his infuriatingly cute dimples, "not more than you did I'm sure."

"Indeed I did, on a personal level at least." He licked his lips sensually as if savoring the sight of her before raising his eyebrows teasingly, "artistically speaking though…"

"What are you getting at?"

"Well, as I've speculated, which you've yet to confirm before getting distracted by my finer assets," he met Caroline's scoff with another smirk, "you are not exactly experienced in your current job."

"And just how did you come to that very unwelcome assumption?" Caroline gritted her teeth. She would like nothing more than to remove his stupid smug face from her sight (however dreamy that face may be under normal circumstances), but the perfectionist in her demanded an answer to any criticism related to her job.

Seeming to notice her annoyance, the man held out his hands in front of him placatingly, "look, obviously you are better than most amateurs but I have seen enough art models to know you are new at this. You body's too tense."

"Excuse me?" Caroline's whole body tensed up to a new level just hearing those words and she immediately willed herself to loosen up, but she could feel the anger-induced tension still building in her tenfold.

"It's quite normal actually. People tend to be more self-conscious in their naked forms, which affects the lines of their muscles and their natural fluid quality." He made a small gesture with the pencil between his long fingers, "a part of the reason why many famous artists used to work with prostitutes, including Vincent Van Gogh."

Caroline narrowed her eyes, glaring daggers at the damn show-off, "are you seriously comparing me to a _hooker_?"

The slightly dumbfounded look on his face did nothing to appease her.

"Let me get one thing straight. You don't know me. I don't care who you are but to you, I'm just the model from your art class, who you should not be playing some silly tricks in order to chat up! And while we're at it-dropping the pencil? Really? Where are we, junior high?"

Anger flashed through his eyes as he pursed his lips, the smirk still hanging on the corner of his mouth slowly turning cold, "careful, love, I wouldn't be too sure about the 'not knowing you' part."

Caroline furrowed her brows, equal part indignant and confused, "what does that even mean? Are you threatening me?"

"Oh no, of course not. Just a heads-up that as an artist, I could be quite observant."

"Yeah? Well what did you observe, Mr. Big-Shot Artist?"

The man quirked an eyebrow, his eyes took leisurely time traipsing all over her body, their calculating glint sending a shiver straight down Caroline's spine. She wanted to flinch from his imposing figure, only to be stopped by her pride. She was never one to back down, even without clothes on-especially without clothes on.

"Your posture is good, and you clearly have a nice control of your body, which takes a great amount of practice and effort. I'm sensing…former pageant queen of some sort maybe?" The small gasp escaping from her lips betrayed Caroline, putting a hint of triumph in the man's eyes.

"You are quite responsive to the sounds around you, your skin flushes easily," he inclined his chin towards her chest, his eyes thankfully remaining on her face but the heat in those now dark blue orbs burned her across the short distance between them, "and considering the fact that you noticed my…attention even when we were not facing each other, I'd say you are quite the sensitive type, even a bit neurotic," he smirked devilishly, "no offense."

Disregarding-or maybe spurred on by Caroline's hard glare, he continued with a shrug, "and judging by the stiffness of your neck and shoulders, your twitching little fingers, as well as the irritable mood and hostile tone, life is wearing you down, and you fear there's no way out. But," he released a soft sigh, and for a second wistfulness was shadowing his face, "don't we all?"

"You think you got me all figured out, huh?" Caroline bit the inside of her mouth, barely containing her fury, "then you must know that I have zero interest in continuing this conversation."

His face softened a bit at that, something akin to regret thawing in his eyes, "oh come now, don't be like that." He gave her a pleading look from under his lashes, as if gauging her reaction, his voice dropping an octave, "to be honest I didn't get to know you as much as I intended to."

Caroline ignored the small twinge of her heart at the vulnerability she could somehow detect in his lowered voice. "Sucks to be you then." She turned her face away, not caring about changing her pose. Most of the students were finishing up anyway, which was probably why they didn't complain about whoever-he-was blocking her from their view.

He was about to say something more when Katherine sauntered over with her hips swaying, "is there a problem here?" She gave Caroline a concerned look which Caroline returned with a slight nod of assurance.

Turning to the man, Katherine crossed her arms, "okay Mr. Mikaelson, I may have enjoyed your work back there," Caroline caught a subtle wink she threw her way with bewilderment, "but I certainly don't appreciate you distracting our model during _class hours_."

Caroline's eyes widened in disbelief. _What was that?_

 _Mr. Mikaelson_ , however, seemed quite pleased with the whole situation, exchanging an unreadable look with a grinning Katherine, "of course, Ms. Pierce. I'll just go finish my…sketch." And then he, too, threw a wink at Caroline before taking off to his seat.

As soon as he was out of earshot Caroline pulled Katherine close by the lace of her sleeve, "why did you say _that_? And why were you two both winking at me?"

"Hey! This is Chanel!" Katherine hurried to remove Caroline's hand from the delicate fabric before smirking conspiratorially at her, "someone has a crush on you."

"What?" Caroline quietly exclaimed, "are you on something right now?"

Katherine rolled her eyes offended, "high or not, I'm never wrong about these things. And it's not like he's being subtle about it-you should have seen his work." She snorted a laugh, "the only thing missing from that drawing is a stamp on your ass that reads 'reserved'."

"Great." Caroline gave her a sour look, "first he compared me to a hooker, and now you are pimping me out."

"He did what?" Katherine's whole body was shaking from the suppressed laughter. If she was not in class Caroline was sure she'd be rolling on the floor by now.

"Never mind." Sighing in exasperation, Caroline muttered, "it's almost over anyway."

Katherine poked her freshly-manicured index finger into her chest, her eyes menacing, "you promised me three sessions. Don't you dare bail on me, Forbes."

"I'm naked!" Caroline batted her hand away.

"I'm aware." Katherine gave her a once-over nonchalantly, earning another scoff from Caroline, "though I've got to say, Caroline, I'm impressed." Looking over Caroline's shoulder, she smirked, "and apparently so is Mr. Mikaelson there."

Distracted by the conversation with Katherine, Caroline hadn't realized until then that burning sensation was back. Silent charges ran all over her skin, making her breath quicken and her head swim. A part of her wanted to ask Katherine about him, what he was doing, the look on his face or even the color of his eyes right that second.

Instead she settled for wondering about all those things as well as his drawing of her in the remaining twenty minutes of the class, all while his eyes stayed glued to her, hot and vigorous, evaporating her cell by cell into a ball of shining energy, just like the runway spotlights that she dreamed of almost every night.

* * *

Caroline did a little stretch to alleviate the unexpected soreness of her muscles. She'd already changed back into her own clothes, and was now sitting in one of the chairs a few steps from Katherine while she collected the last few sketches from the students. The job proved more tiresome than Caroline initially anticipated-a different type of tired than her normal jobs but still.

Granted she was mainly working in commercials right now (beggars can't be choosers and all that), and had only did a few try-outs for fashion gigs, but the most taxing part of those jobs were always the ungodly hours, the long wait, the nonstop changing of backgrounds and outfits and poses, and catering to the whims of practically anyone on set other than her.

Yet the trials of being an art model appeared to be sitting still forever till every part of yourself didn't feel yours anymore. And, apparently, seeing yourself portrayed on a dozen or more drawings from various angles in the same pose like some freakish clones from a sci-fi movie.

It didn't feel the same as her photo-shoots. The pictures were always for the public eye, be they printed on a page of a magazine or the packages filling a supermarket rack. They were meant to be skimmed over or even pawed at without much as a second thought, leaving only a glimpse of colorful nonsense in your subconscious to stir up urges of consuming when needed.

But drawings…they seemed much more personal. It both amazed and kind of scared her to amuse the notion that someone had studied every detail of her body until they could recreate her in their mind, that their fingers had caressed every shadow and contour on her figure stilled on a piece of paper. And somehow, when she pictured that "someone", the face of a certain blue-eyed jerk with a killer physique and insufferable personality popped into her head.

Caroline mentally pinched herself. She should not be thinking of jerks of any kind. She was supposed to review her to-do list that she'd put down on her planner as soon as she had her clothes on and check if there was anything she needed to add. In the next predictably hectic 12 hours she had her daily work-out routine, a movie night with Katherine, a meeting with her "guy" at the agency and a possible try-out for yet another ridiculously bland commercial and a plan to rearrange her broken book case. And she had to make time to call her mom who hadn't contacted her in a week-which was super odd and worrying-as well as squeezing in a four-hour sleep (the minimum amount for her to maintain a decent image in front of a camera).

She didn't have the time nor the energy to fantasize about sexy accents or dimples.

Glancing over to find what appeared to be the last student turning in their work to Katherine, Caroline shot up from her seat with her purse in hand ready to go, only to be stopped by a gentle hand grabbing her wrist. She whirled around and feigned surprise, even if she already knew it was him-how she managed to do that she wouldn't delve.

"Oh, it's you." She eyed his hand on her wrist with all the cold judgmental bitchiness she could muster.

His hand lingered a moment before releasing her, a shy smile adorning his rich raspberry lips, "look, I know we've started off on the wrong foot, but surely there must be some ways to remedy that."

"Hmmm…" Caroline tapped a finger on her chin, "I think not. Sorry not sorry."

She plastered a fake smile on her face and turned to walk away, but he blocked her passage with his broad shoulders, "you are being exceptionally harsh on me, love. If it were anyone else they'd be deeply hurt by your attitude…" he even had the gall to make puppy-dog eyes at her, "however stunning you are."

Caroline rolled her eyes, "yeah well 'anyone else' wouldn't have insulted me to gain my attention. Where did you learn that move? Douchebag 101?"

He grinned at that, the curl of his lips and the sparkle in his eyes tugging at her despite her best effort to block them all out, "and here I thought we were in junior high."

Caroline couldn't stop the small smile from making its stealthy way onto her pursed lips. The guy was smooth, she would give him that-but smooth would not get him anywhere this time. Wiping the smile off her face, she cleared her throat, "then you should probably go on handing in your project to the teacher."

"And _the teacher_ would very much like that," there was no way that Katherine just happened to weigh in at that exact moment, not with the all-knowing look and the Cheshire-cat grin on her face, "so she could finally call it a day and go have her happy hour at home."

The man huffed a laugh, inclining his head at Katherine, "yes of course, sorry for holding you up, Ms. Pierce. But you must understand," he glanced at Caroline, smirk in place, "some company just makes you forget the time."

Breath hitched in Caroline's throat, which she quickly covered with another quiet scoff, but the man had already turned back to a still grinning Katherine, handing her the drawing he'd been holding.

Katherine quirked an eyebrow at the sketch, "you sure work fast."

"Not fast enough for my liking, for as you can see, it's in fact not quite finished yet." His eyes shot to Caroline through hooded lashes, "then again, the subject was much too exquisite to rush through."

Katherine snorted, "I'll give you an A plus on your artistic skills, for obvious reasons." She gestured at the drawing, "but verbal ones? C minus at best."

"Then it's a good thing I'm only enrolled in your art class, isn't it?" He retorted with an indifferent smile.

Curiosity got the best of Caroline as she leaned in close to Katherine and took a peek at the sketch. She gasped at her own face staring back at her.

The man wasn't lying when he said it wasn't finished-the sketch only caught Caroline's front from her face to the upper half of her chest, the whole image taking up about half of the paper. But somehow he made her stand out from this uneven distribution of space, her face drawing in all the attention among the large blanks of white. Everything was done with elegant finesse, from the few strands of loose hair fallen from her up-do framing her face, to the slight pout of her lips, to the delicate swell of her breasts.

She was glaring in the drawing, her eyes narrowed and her jaw line hard, but Caroline didn't think she had ever looked so beautiful. The anger made her face glow, the flames in her eyes burnt bright like stars. In all of her photo-shoots Caroline merely reflected the hundreds of lights shone blindingly on her, while in the brief lines of his sketch she seemed to give off all those light on her own.

 _Was that how he saw her?_

Her eyes still widened with awe, Caroline stuttered at Katherine, "but…but I thought you said he drew my back?"

She internally kicked herself. Of all the things crossing her mind that was what she chose to ask? How embarrassingly lame! And from the incredulous borderline ashamed look on Katherine's face, she clearly agreed with her.

Her self-berating was cut short when he took a step closer to her, his mouth opening and closing a few times as if he was actually nervous, "you've voiced more than clear your distaste for my ways of 'chatting you up'." He chuckled softly before catching her eyes with his, "but what if I told you…I did it all to get a glimpse of your lovely face?"

Caroline was speechless. He was beyond hot, his smile was cute, and his words were sweet albeit corny as hell, which surprisingly held an unexpected appeal to her, but…

"I'm still your art model." She deliberately tuned out Katherine's loud snort in the background.

"Yes, I'm well aware." His smile turned a bit teasing, but his eyes were more than sincere, "considering I've already seen you naked-"

"Yeah, you and other 20 people, big deal."

"-will you do me the honor of doing this whole thing backwards with me?" Even expecting it, his question still caught Caroline off-guard, "like giving me your name and number?"

His eyes held onto hers like a vice and her mind was melting till she couldn't find a single word of response. Her head was telling her one thing, her gut was telling her another, neither of which she could decipher in her current state of mind, and her heart just kept doing crazy violent dance moves in oblivion like her on a fifth glass of Margarita.

"Okay I've seen enough of this." Katherine's light shove startled her out of the stupor, "you two-" she was now standing between the two of them, her finger pointed out at them like a small dagger of annoyance, "never do drama."

She suddenly grabbed a pencil from her desk, writing something on the sketch she still held in her hand while eyeing them with a bored look, "Klaus, Caroline. Caroline, Klaus. I'm sure it's nice for you to meet each other. No I don't need to hear Klaus' effusive demonstration or Caroline's feeble denial. Shake hands. Suck face. Just stand there and do nothing. I don't care."

Caroline watched in shock as she realized Katherine just wrote her phone number on his- _Klaus'_ drawing of her. More accurately, on drawing-Caroline's perky right boob, like some drunk-out-of –your-mind tattoo.

"Katherine!" All that blank space and she had to write it _there_? No, strike that-why was she giving out her phone number in the first place?

Katherine didn't even bother to spare her a glance. She shoved the drawing back into Klaus' waiting hand, "finish your drawing before the next class, Mr. Mikaelson."

Klaus looked down with a small genuine smile, his face soft at the sketch in his hands before his eyes landed back on her face, "I do wish you'd pick up, _Caroline_."

The way her name rolled off his tongue made her knees weak, and her heart was clearly doing shots by now. "I wouldn't hold my breath for it." Her voice sounded not nearly as resistant as she intended.

"Don't worry, love," Klaus crossed his hands behind his back, looking smug and victorious like he held everything he wanted in the world, "I'm nothing if not persistent."

* * *

"I still don't know why we are watching this movie." Katherine bit into her green apple forcefully, the loud crunch resonating against the soft tunes of _As Time Goes By_.

"Well, let me refresh your memory," Caroline controlled her breaths between words, her eyes straight to the front fixing on Ingrid Bergman's flawless face, careful not to let a healthy dose of daily banter with Katherine disrupt her perfect boat pose, "we made a bet. I won. You begrudgingly allowed me to choose what to watch on our movie night. So I chose."

Katherine snorted, the eye roll evident in her voice, "I still can't believe they just let you keep that horrendous necklace on in the commercial."

"They said it helped build a quote 'satiric ambience' unquote. Whatever that means." Caroline stifled a laugh. It baffled her how a clear joke on Katherine's part could miraculously work-a necklace with a plastic mini Barbie as a pendant on a men's suit commercial.

Sometimes her career just felt like a ginormous ludicrous prank show. Or a horror movie, depending on your point of view.

"You know, as crazy as that commercial was, I was more surprised that you actually went through with it." Katherine took a sip from the wine glass in her other hand, "I kept expecting you'd chicken out at the last minute."

"Chicken out? Have you met me?" Caroline changed into a downward dog pose, peeking at Katherine through her out-stretched arms and legs, "Caroline Forbes does _not_ quit."

"Yes she does, if it messes with her meticulous work ethic." Katherine gave her a pointed look.

Caroline sighed, "it's just a dumb commercial." Her voice lowered into a whisper that she wished no one could hear, even herself, "not like I'm going on the runway or anything."

But she should have gathered from her experience of living with Katherine Pierce for the past year-that woman hears _everything_. "You'd sell a beach house in Santa Monica just to have that commercial wiped off of the face of the earth _when_ you are on the runway."

If Caroline caught on to the specific punctuation in her words, she didn't show any signs of acknowledgement.

Truth was, she didn't have half the confidence that Katherine seemed to have in her these days. It'd been a whole year since she uprooted herself from her old life to make a living in LA, but aside from a bunch of commercials that apparently no one ever paid any resemblance of attention to, she'd come no closer to her dream of becoming a fashion model. She was still waiting tables as a side job, sending out resumes to no avail, working herself up into low-scale anxiety attacks in the wee hours when she should be catching up on a measly couple of hours of sleep-the exact same things she did back home in the two years she wasted just to save up for her move to LA.

She felt like that little plastic ballerina twirling on her childhood favorite music box, going round and round in circles, tricking herself into believing that the grand stage awaits.

But at least the ballerina would forever be stuck in her finely hand-crafted youth. And she didn't need to pay rent.

"I just didn't think I'd give anyone at home the chance to say 'I told you so'."

Including her mother, who loved Caroline deeply but never found it in her to stand by her daughter's career choice, which she reminded Caroline with the unconscious disapproving tone in every one of their phone calls since Caroline left home. Thinking about it-Caroline made another mental note to call her mother first thing the next morning.

"What do you care what they might say? You certainly didn't care what I think about your horrible taste in movies-no bad career choice can ever trump that."

Caroline bit back a smile at Katherine's not-so-subtle attempt at changing the subject. She took in a deep breath, and slowly exhaled through her teeth as the yoga instructor taught on Youtube, clearing her head of any troubling thoughts. It was a girl's movie night after all. "In case you didn't know, it's a classic."

"The Birkin bag is a classic," another crunch from Katherine's direction, "this is a pretentious white male fantasy. They think they are totally capable of love, but above it-I call bullshit."

"Hey! Stop badmouthing my favorite movie, Missy!" Caroline slumped back into a sitting position, "there's nothing wrong with being a romantic."

"All this talk about romance and I haven't seen you go on an actual date for…how long? Uh-uh," she shut Caroline up with an upheld glass, her wine nearly sloshing out, "it's been too long if I can't even remember."

"I'm just too busy."

"I'd believe you more if you said you caught syphilis from a quick romp in a back-alley that I don't know of." Katherine deadpanned before her face morphed into a salacious smirk, "which, by the way, I'd still see through because there's no back alley that I don't know."

"Ewww!" Caroline made a show to cover up her ears, "for the millionth time Kat I don't need to hear about any of your sexual encounters."

"I'd be magnanimous and say that I wouldn't mind hearing about yours, but unfortunately, you have none." Katherine shrugged, "the closest thing you have to a relationship is that perverse obsession with your street artist dude."

"It's not an obsession. I just love _their_ work." Caroline felt her chest warm up just thinking about it, her tired body buzzing with a sudden longing to venture out into the cold streets in the middle of the night, just to see how the nameless drawings would faire under the late-autumn moonlight. Yeah, love couldn't even begin to describe how she felt on this particular subject.

She found the artwork on the vast side walls of an abandoned warehouse when she got lost a few blocks from their apartment when she first got to LA. She'd just started living with Katherine and her phone died before she could look up directions on google map. She was wandering the deserted area spiraling into panic mode in record speed when the vibrant colors and shapes hijacked her shaking view.

Caroline was never too invested in art, passing everything they'd covered in her high school art textbook as old, dying fossils that were bound to collect dust in someone's creaking attic like the photos of that great-great-great aunt that no one remembered. But what she saw on those walls were different. They screamed _life_. Each line and stroke grew rampant on the silent, hard concrete like resilient vines, spreading and unraveling and digging down roots until the whole space was brimming with their sparkling energy.

The art covered up about one third of the walls with vivid images, no doubt speaking the coded dreams and memories of another, but along her walk admiring them Caroline felt a connection. And it was that connection to what Caroline believed to be a kindred soul that kept her going back, watching in silent joy and anticipation as if grooming her own secret garden as frame by frame the images continued to grow-until it stopped out of the blue six months ago.

Yet still she kept going back-a ritual of which only she, and by extension Katherine, knew.

"Not obsession my ass." Katherine snorted, draining the last wine from her glass before filling it up again without much deliberation, "you wouldn't even show me where it is. I had to see the art from the hundreds of pictures you saved in your phone. Though I've got to say, your taste in art is at least better than in movie." She gave a flippant whistle, "the guy's good and he knows it."

"And just how do you know it's a guy?" Caroline snatched the glass from Katherine's hand, feeling strangely defensive.

"Come on Caroline, you can always tell. How many times have I told you? Art is sex made public," Katherine pried the glass back, wriggling her eyebrows, "which is why I'm an expertise in both fields."

"Not everyone makes your kind of art, Kat." Caroline giggled, knowing full well how Katherine was with her male-or occasionally female-troop of models.

"Few can." Katherine bit into her apple in haughty nonchalance, "a lot of creeps just paint a bunch of withered vaginas and sell them for thousands of dollars." She shuddered at the offensive mind-image before turning to Caroline, "not your guy though. No-the monsieur has class. I bet he knows his foreplay."

Caroline abruptly sprung to her feet in a bout of inexplicable fretfulness, startling both Katherine and herself, "he's not 'my guy'! _My guy_ is Ted from the Sunnyside Agency, who is way too fond of hotdogs with extra mustard which he keeps dripping on his shirt, cheap commercials that put girls in costumes that look like they were retrieved from the 80s, and making fun of my 'cute Victoria's Secret fantasies'."

Unable to control her random surge of indignation, she hit pause on the remote control and began frantically pacing around the room.

"What's with you today?" Katherine seemed unfazed by her outburst, "PMS-ing?"

Caroline rolled her eyes quietly with her back to Katherine, now stopping before her small bookcase beside the window of their living room. The top shelf crashed in the middle of the night two days ago-something with a broken bolt that she still hadn't got around to fix-giving them quite the fright. With a huff she started to rearrange the fallen books and magazines she'd piled haphazardly on the windowsill back onto the rest of the shelves.

Her lack of a response never deterred Katherine's sharp tongue, "you know, I didn't want to say it, but you've been weird for quite some time now. Like with that guy from class today."

Caroline was pretty sure she never wanted to hear the word "guy" again for the rest of her life. But Katherine was unrelenting, turning around on the couch to fully face her now, "he was cute. He was into you. What's holding you back?"

"I swear Kat if you spill one drop of your wine on the couch there will be hell to pay." Caroline held the last one from the pile, her guilty pleasure romance of all time, trying hard scanning for a space on the already stuffed shelf to squeeze it in, "and nothing's holding me back. I just didn't feel it with him."

"Your nipples with a hard-on said otherwise", Katherine ignored her gasp of embarrassment, "now come clean before I make you."

Caroline whirled around, waving the book at Katherine, her voice shrill with a desperation she didn't quite understand herself, "the problem is they don't fit! This book, that guy…none of them fit, okay?" She gestured frantically at the bookcase, "this, this is my life. It's a hot mess and it's cramped like hell, and…and I don't think I have room for anything more." Her shoulders slumped as she dropped the book in defeat.

"I had it all planned out, you know? I was supposed to meet the right guy when I was back home, we'd build our relationship and declare our love for each other before moving here together, and we'd be able to focus on our respective careers because our love would already be strong enough to handle the pressure of working our asses off in a new city." But apparently her "right guy" or what she thought he was back then was more attached to their hometown than to her, "only now I'm going on with my plan, alone."

"Well you don't have to be."

"Don't you get it Kat? The window's passed!" She stalked back to her yoga matt before the TV, crouching down with her head in hand, "time's flying by and I'm not getting any younger. If I don't put myself all in it'll be too late."

"Too late for what exactly?" Katherine reached a finger over, tugging at one of her curls like it was all just a game. She batted her hand away in a flash.

"I don't know," feeling drained and fed up with this line of questioning, Caroline un-paused the movie, letting the scenes that she knew by heart flow over her like soothing rivulets of water, "which when you think about it is even more stressful because I could've already missed it."

She watched as lights and shadows divided Rick's ambiguous face on the screen and he mouthed the unforgettable line like a forbidden curse in the nostalgic tune, "of all the gin joints in all the towns in all the world…" Blue-grey eyes and dimpled smirks flashed through her mind, and she found herself absently wondering how he'd look with a whiskey tumbler in hand.

All of a sudden cold panic gripped her heart, as well as an ominous sense of loss, "what if I walked into the wrong gin joint Kat?"

Katherine threw her a side-glance, "what if you walked into a strip club and pole-danced till you're seventy?"

"It's not funny Katherine!"

"What?" Katherine feigned innocence, "you should take that as a compliment. Not everyone can make it as a stripper at that old age." Holding her accusing glare for a few more seconds, she sighed, moving off the couch to sit next to Caroline on the floor, "the point is, you won't walk into any joint if you just sit around."

"But…"

"I can afford to miss one or two of our movie nights. Especially if you keep forcing me to watch _these_." Katherine made a disgusted face at the screen, which put a small smile on Caroline's face, "take a chance, Carebear. If not on the guy, on his ass."

Caroline giggled at that, "he does have a nice ass."

A mischievous gleam sparkled in Katherine's eyes as she grabbed her phone off the coffee table, "not so fast young lady. First we google the hell out of Mr. Klaus Mikaelson." She lightly slapped Caroline on the bottom, earning a high-pitched yelp from the blonde, "now get down there and do a nice little plank so I don't have to hold my phone. This manicure was really expensive."

Caroline begrudgingly complied.

* * *

Caroline observed the fancy restaurant from her seat as inconspicuously as possible, trying her best to keep her face neutral while inwardly feeling severely underdressed. When she accepted the dinner date offer from Klaus with a clipped tone she didn't imagine it would happen in Beverly Hills-she thought the whole point of him showing up in a nondescript night school in their crappy neighborhood was to keep a low profile.

In order not to look too eager to please, she'd opted for a simple yet classy wine-colored silk blouse and a cute blazer, paired with skinny pants and knee-high boots. In spite of what she learned in that late-night google session with Katherine three nights before, Klaus' eyes drinking her in like a man dying of thirst when he came to pick her up strongly boosted her ego. But her confidence was waning by the second as the plush velvet cover of the menu tickled her palm.

It didn't help that Klaus looked devastatingly gorgeous in his black suit, the snug fabric complementing his broad shoulders and chest. The top two buttons of his white shirt were left open, revealing a generous view of his nicely-shaped collar bones, to which Caroline found her eyes repeatedly drawn ever since they sat down by their window seats.

"They have a divine selection of caviar here." Klaus smiled at her, his voice low and smooth like he was whispering right into her ear, instead of sitting across a table. Caroline noticed that he didn't even pick up his menu, clearly a regular of the eatery.

"Caviar? Really?" She regretted her words as soon as they were out of her mouth. But well, she was never one to hold her tongue.

Klaus didn't seem to mind though, the dimples on his cheeks deepening as if amused, "why? Do you have something against it?"

"Don't tell me you actually like that stuff." Caroline made a face behind the menu.

To her surprise, Klaus actually paused a second to consider her words, before he softly chuckled, "I suppose it is an acquired taste."

She couldn't help but roll her eyes this time, "yeah, more like imagined. You know people tend to find the food that they paid more money for more delicious? Basically we trick ourselves into thinking that it's worth it." She still remembered overhearing on set some cheese company that changed the package of their prime product, doubled the price, and even got a better response from the focus group out of it.

Like she said, sometimes this line of work was just insane.

A hint of admiration warmed Klaus' eyes, "That may be so on many occasions but I do think there could be exceptions, caviar being one of them. When was the last time you tried it, love?"

Caroline moved the menu higher to hide the faint blush on her face, "three months ago? When it was on sale at the supermarket." It was 10 dollars a jar, and she had felt seriously ripped-off after the first taste.

"Then you should definitely try it again today." Klaus smiled, not showing any surprise or derision at her answer, "I still remember my first time experiencing the exquisite taste. It felt like the entire ocean was buzzing on my tongue, cold and clear, fresh and lively. There's nothing quite like it."

Caroline's mouth involuntarily watered, though from his description of the expensive caviar or his delicious accented voice, she couldn't tell. Somehow that fact irritated her, and she took a sip of her water to wash down the hostility in her voice-at least some of it, "well, not all of us can afford the luxury of dining here on a weekly basis."

To his credit, Klaus looked a little bashful at her comment. But in the blink of an eye something clicked in his mind and his eyes, though still curved at the corners keeping his smile in place, turned guarded, "you searched me on the internet, didn't you?"

"Um, technically, Katherine searched you but…" Caroline's cheeks burned under his scrutiny.

She was not proud of what she did. But to her defense, she didn't think they'd actually find anything of import. A bunch of photos which turned out to be just weirdoes that had the bad luck to share his ridiculous name, sure; maybe a few silly college prank videos, or even some ranting tweets or blogs from a particularly scorned ex-she'd pegged him for the womanizer type anyway.

But certainly not pages and pages of news reports, reviews and advertisements singing praises to a "Niklaus 'Klaus' Mikaelson" who was apparently the rising star of the LA art scene. At the age of 28 he had already had three exhibitions of his own, the last one barely six months ago, where his abstract paintings with "a matured, distinct person style" sold at an average price of five grand a piece-Katherine had let out an inhuman growl at that.

"Son of bitch," She'd ranted, "that's ten times what I get for my paintings. On a good day when they aren't rotting in that goddamn storage room the night school oh-so-graciously granted me!"

Caroline, on the other hand, was just shocked at the fact that he was at a night school _at all_. What was he doing there anyway? Doing some undercover business espionage work so he could buy the school? But didn't someone like him have minions for the dirty job? And even she didn't think it would be a wise purchase. Plus…

"It was not like you were being super discreet or anything." She muttered, feeling a strange need to justify herself, "could've at least used an alias."

"It's alright, love, no harm done." Klaus brushed the whole thing off with his signature smirk, but Caroline thought she saw something akin to disappointment flitting through his eyes, "the prospect of lying to you didn't exactly sit well with my conscience anyway."

Caroline cleared her throat nervously, "so now that's out in the open…what brought you to the night school anyway? Nothing to learn there I'm sure."

"You could say I was looking for an…inspiration of some sort," Klaus raised his eyes to meet hers, his voice suddenly husky, "which I think I just found the other night." The look in his eyes enveloped her in a sweltering grasp, the heat surging through her veins, hypnotizing and alarming at the same time.

She was immensely grateful that the waiter chose that moment to come and take their orders.

Caroline chose a simple salad, forgoing the dessert. She didn't pay close attention to what Klaus ordered, her mind still reeling from their little moment seconds ago. She could almost taste the look he gave her on her tongue, like burning hot lava chocolate that she hadn't had for three years. And his long dark-blonde eyelashes hovering over his ocean blues were the sprinkles on top, their each tiny movement tickling her nerve endings into transient shocks…

She was pulled out of her own head when she heard Klaus asking for their finest white wine.

"Oh no, water's fine. I don't drink alcohol." She'd given it up three years ago when her mind was made up, just like the chocolate cake. Looking good and healthy took every bit of her self-restraint, but the ordeal paid off, which was all that mattered.

Klaus frowned with concern hearing her rejection, "are you allergic?"

"No," Caroline drawled, inclining her head slightly to the side, not wanting to go into details in front of the waiter, "let's just say it clashes with my chosen life style."

Klaus gave her a look mixed with curiosity and thoughtfulness, but he refrained from commenting, finishing his order with a polite smile. When the waiter finally left, the smile once again turned into a smirk, "water, no alcohol, salad dishes, no dessert-let me guess, you are on yet another one of those trendy diets 'taking over' Instagram for a hot ten days."

Caroline didn't miss the sarcasm in his tone, "why? Do you have something against it?"

He chuckled at his own words thrown back in his face, "not particularly. Self-discipline is always admirable. Wishful thinking though, not so much."

"Care to elaborate?"

"Do you happen to know that your figure relates more to your genes than your life style? It's just like natural talent of any kind, predetermined and unmovable by sheer willpower or perspiration." He raised his eyebrows in an air of superiority, "hardly fair, but true nonetheless."

The snide mirth dancing in his eyes grated on her nerves, while his voice alone continued to make her stomach do somersaults. She wouldn't hesitate to open her wallet if they ever make him record one of those "you are a strong powerful woman" bedtime soundtracks-it would be so much better than listening to his offensive remarks.

"So you are telling me your art is all about genius talent and nothing more?" Caroline narrowed her eyes, "Cocky much, Picasso?"

"Personally I'm not a fan of Picasso's." Klaus grinned cheekily at her, "he was talented, I won't deny it, but also over-hyped. The golden times in which he was living uplifted him as much as his own gift, if not more so. A lot of his friends or even paramours were just as artistically capable, but sadly never caught the public eye."

Caroline's tone softened at his face lit up by the pure passion when he was talking about art, "you are digressing."

"To answer your question," again there was an almost imperceptible pause in Klaus' speech, like he was doing a little soul-searching just to sate Caroline's random curiosity, "I think I have just the enough amount of talent to make a splash in the art world through continuous effort. Now if I recall correctly," he took a sip from his water glass, "you haven't answered my question either, love."

She laughed a little, tucking a lock of her meticulously curled hair behind her ear, feeling his attentive eyes glued to her every move as if he was mentally drawing her, "if you must know, it's more than just a diet." Seeing the confused look in his eyes, she explained, "I'm a model. I have to watch what I put in my mouth."

Klaus looked taken aback, "I thought you were just doing a favor for Ms. Pierce."

It came as no surprise that he easily deduced her relationship with Katherine. Caroline shrugged, "more like I was in need of cash and the school was not picky. I mainly work for commercials, though I'm aspiring to be a fashion model one day, hopefully in the near future."

She bit her lips at the end of the sentence, refraining from saying anything more. These days it became a rare occurrence where she told anyone about her long-term dream. Dreams were a dime a dozen here in LA, no need to bore anyone with it. She didn't know why she just exposed that secret part of herself to him, or why she felt so anxious over his possible reaction. It shouldn't matter either way.

"A fashion model?" The drawled-out words sounded hesitant, but Klaus' brows knitting tightly together showed clear disapproval.

Apparently it mattered. _A lot_.

"Whoa, watch the judgmental tone." Caroline snapped at him, "it's just walking runways, not picking locks."

"Believe me love, I bear no judgment to any particular line of work-except for politicians or art dealers perhaps-be it modeling or picking locks." His eyes cast down for a few seconds before locking with Caroline's, his expression unreadable, "I just thought you smarter than that."

"I'm sorry, is there something wrong with my hearing? Because you did _not_ seriously just say that!" Caroline was livid, "do I have to thank you for deeming me above the career of _my_ choosing?"

Klaus' fingers twitched as if trying to reach out to Caroline, but his face hardened under the ruthless glare she was sending him, "It can hardly count as a career if you have to retire in your thirties."

Caroline scoffed, her insides boiling at his careless words, "yeah, so do athletes, and stunt men, even coders!" She shut him up with a hiss as soon as he opened his lips, "don't you dare say another word!"

Laughing scornfully, she turned her face outside, not even able to look at him in that moment from the searing rage, "I know what you think. Fashion models, just a bunch of dumb bimbos who do nothing other than primping and simpering. Well guess what? That's how everybody's seen me since high school, and how they'll always see me even if I didn't leave that one-pony town to pursue my dream. So what if I want to be a fashion model? At least I went for it, which none of them had the gut to do."

She was almost panting after the rant, her body shaking from the adrenaline rush. Taking a few deep breaths to calm herself, she was shocked to hear Klaus' hesitant question in her still-ringing ears, "so…you were a small town girl then?"

Just like that. No apologies, no acknowledging her points, nothing. He just moved the conversation along without any segue. And surprisingly, Caroline let him, somewhat conciliated by the genuine care in his gentle voice, "Mystic Falls, Virginia. As small town as they came."

"It's truly brave of you to venture into a whole new world on your own, Caroline." She slowly turned around to find his smiling eyes now fixated on hers again, the soft twilight from outside the window coloring his blue orbs near green, "though I'm not one bit surprised seeing as how incredibly magnificent you clearly are."

Caroline snorted, the corners of her lips curling up, "don't think I'm no longer mad at you just because you give a few empty compliments."

"It seems that Ms. Pierce was right, I do need to brush up on my verbal skills so you can believe I speak my heart."

With a roll of her eyes Caroline turned back to face the breathtaking view of a quiet dusk, a million shades of blues and violets shrouding everything in melancholy serenity, while a crescent moon dangled at the end of the dark cerulean sky like a silent prayer.

"It's beautiful." She sighed, mesmerized.

"One of my favorite spots in the city." His breath was dangerously close to her, and suddenly Caroline could imagine warm sea breeze brushing at the tips of her hair when it's already late October and they were seated inside. "Have you ever been here?"

She lightly shook her head, "like I said, this is not exactly my kind of place."

"You don't really need money or status to claim a place, sweetheart." The way he pronounced the nickname makes her stomach churn, "it's a matter of what speaks to you in your own tongue. The sun, the moon, the ocean…they don't cost a penny, yet they make you feel you truly belong."

"But doesn't it take more than that to feel rooted?" Caroline observed his profile lit up half by moonlight and half by the reflection of the glass chandelier, feeling something tragically lonely about the way his jaw clenched at her words, "memories? People you love?"

The thought brought a rush of unquenchable nostalgia through her heart, and following it a sense of restlessness gnawing at her, propelling her to check her phone she'd set on the table. Still no new message.

Caroline sighed inwardly. She'd finally got in touch with her mom two days ago, but the phone call was alarmingly rushed, something her mom blamed on her job as the town sheriff as usual. However she couldn't entirely hide the anxiety and exhaustion from her voice, and despite Caroline's firm demand that she call her at least once every day, the past two days went without a single ringing from Mystic Falls. Caroline was beyond worried she enlisted her childhood friend Matt to check on her mom, who hadn't given her an update since they last talked yesterday morning.

Maybe it was nothing, but the ominous sense of foreboding in her gut said otherwise.

"Is something bothering you?"

Caroline gasped, putting her phone down immediately, her face blushing from embarrassment, "no, sorry, no…you were saying?"

Klaus smiled but it felt more like a mask this time, his eyes distanced, "how long have you been in LA, love?"

"About a year, why?"

He pursed his lips for a few seconds, studying her intently with a pensive look, "I was just hoping to know if you've discovered your own favorite spots here in the city."

Vibrant colors over grey and dead walls brought to life appeared in Caroline's mind, each line and stroke clear as the day she first saw them, bringing a faint smile to her lips. But she didn't feel right sharing it with Klaus-she barely shared it with Katherine. It was her own secret spot and she wasn't ready letting anyone in.

"None that I can think of at the moment," she said with an apologetic smile, her eyes darting to her phone once more, thinking of all those pictures she saved there just to soothe herself even if she didn't have the time to make an impromptu visit to the warehouse of serendipity, "it's been crazy ever since I got here. You know, life." She shook her head paired with a little shrug, putting on her best dramatic suffering face, trying to veer the conversation elsewhere.

Klaus nodded, the imperceptible sarcasm lining his voice sharpening his features, "tell me about it."

Awkward silence fell upon their table, disorienting and impenetrable, not like the soft dusk outside, but more like an eclipse without forecast. Caroline glanced from the corner of her eyes to see Klaus running a finger around the rim of his glass, his muscles tense as a spring pressed to the bottom, ready to snap at any second.

"You know, it's most curious-" he started, an almost vicious glint to his eyes, "as someone who claimed to have left their old life behind for a new one, you seem oddly unattached to your second home."

The jab prickled at the back of Caroline's heart, meddling with a deep-rooted thorn that she wasn't even aware was there. She clenched her fists, suppressing the unexpected disturbing pain to scoff at him, "so just because I don't have time dining at fancy restaurants or hitting every trendy scene, now I'm not committed to this life that I worked over 70 hours a week to build for myself? Well sorry to break it to you, but some of us have another task called paying bills!"

In a move that further stoked Caroline's fury, Klaus leaned back into his seat, peering at her from under his provokingly long eyelashes, "say what you want love, make backhanded attacks at me if you must, but just ask yourself this: within the span of the past month, how many times have you revisited the tempting notion of going home?"

Caroline pursed her lips, not trusting herself to utter a sound. And those wicked rosy lips adorned with a crooked smirk just knew when they'd hit a nerve.

"Fret not, it's perfectly normal to have second thoughts." Klaus quirked an eyebrow playfully, "artists, actors, playwrights, models…we are all just wait staff until the great break-through, right? Better do it in the sweet shelter that one can fall back on any minute of one's choosing." For some reason the taunting curls of his lips turned bitter, "plus even if you do make it things may turn out not what you once imagined."

"So we are back to hurling insults at my career choice then?" Caroline tapped her fingers on the table in order to vent out a bit of her agitation, but it proved pointless as her voice got louder by the word, "oh wait, it's not a Niklaus-Mikaelson-approved career so all this time I must be running around playing house with myself, except mommy's not here to watch me!"

"Careful love, you are making a scene." Klaus purred in a hushed voice, and even in the fit of rage her toes curled instinctively at the sound, "and those witty comebacks of yours were awfully specific. I do wonder if they've made a few appearances in your pretty head before our lovely banter."

Anger ate its way through Caroline like raw fire, "you know what? This is a mistake. I don't know why I even agreed to go out with you in the first place."

"You've showed your disappointment abundantly clear, what with checking your precious phone once every five minutes."

His sulking pout almost made Caroline laugh, if she was not consumed by the explosive loathing she currently held towards him, "Well it's better than facing a snobbish megalomaniac such as you!"

"I see it's totally fine as long as you are the one doing the insulting." Klaus huffed, his face still an impenetrable mask save for the slight annoyance around the edges, and Caroline felt the rapacious urge to crash that mask into tiny little pieces.

Taking a deep breath, she met his cold gaze head on, "you know, since you are so fond of psycho-analyzing me, let me at least return the favor."

Klaus straightened up, his fingers steepling under his chin, "I'm all ears."

Caroline held out her own fingers to count down numbers for effect, "for starters, the other night at the art class, you went out of your way to draw my face instead of my very draw-able back, which I specifically work on three times a week, because you thought you were above everyone else and the rules don't apply to you."

The raise of his eyebrows silently prompted her to go on, "You approached me in the middle of the class when I was naked, because you don't know how to make connections like a normal person, so you ambushed me when I appeared the most vulnerable."

Klaus' lips twitched in an attempt to defend himself, but Caroline didn't leave him a chance, the words shooting out of her mouth like bullets, "You thought you could impress me with your smart little drawing, but it just shows how little you value it all. Does your art mean anything to you? Or is it just a trick to get you fame and fortune?"

But it seemed Klaus was bullet-proof as he fired back without a change in his expression, "says the girl who is dying to make a name for herself on the runway, where everyone tends to wear fame and fortune as a substitute for their scanty clothes, or lack thereof."

"At least I put my heart into my job, which is more than can be said about you." At last she drew blood, as Klaus' jaw clenched and fingers stiffened, a storm brewing in his downcast eyes. Caroline just smirked, "yeah, I saw your paintings. And if you can honestly say that you are proud of those self-repeating, meaningless patterns that people bought just to polish their living rooms for a dinner party, then you are even less of an artist than I thought."

Caroline bit the inside of her mousth, careful not to let her poker face slide. She was bluffing, just copying some of Katherine's comments that she could still remember, as all she felt towards those steeply-priced paintings that showed up in their search results was indifference-but Klaus didn't need to know that. Still, the dark wounded look on his face made her almost regret her ruthless words for a split second, until aggression erased all traces of hurt from his eyes.

"What do you know about art?" Klaus gave her a careless once-over, "that is, assuming you paid _some_ attention to your high school art classes?"

Caroline bristled, "maybe not much, but like you said, it's more about what speaks to you. And this," before she knew it, she had already flipped open one of the warehouse pictures in her phone and pushed it across the table to Klaus in a swift move, "speaks to me a thousand times more than your so-called genius."

He turned his mocking eyes down at the picture and visibly froze. Caroline didn't miss the widening of his eyes and the instant softening of his jaw line, but his whole face remained indecipherable to her. For a moment he looked like he was staring into a mirror for the first time in his life. Tangling in his eyes were endless strands of revelation, skepticism and wistfulness.

Just then the waiter brought out their appetizers, but suffice it to say Caroline had long lost her appetite. She snatched her phone back from a silent Klaus, standing up with a loud screech from her chair, "I think we are done here. Enjoy your caviar."

With that she left their table without a backward glance, her back straight, her hips swaying, the bounce of her steps right on the beats playing in her head, feeling strangely empowered with all the eyes in the big hall glued to her.

A tiniest part of her couldn't help but wonder if Klaus' were one of them.

* * *

Ever since she stepped foot into the modeling industry, Caroline was used to rejection of all kinds. Face-to-face, on the phone, via email; straight-up ghosting, "we'll call you" and then ghosting, no ghosting but repeating the same platitudes for a thousand times, no ghosting no reaction at all…you name it.

But Caroline took pride in being one of the tough cookies. Not only was she used to rejection, she trained herself to deal with rejection by not taking it lying down, which was why she hadn't stopped sending her headshots to all the fashion-oriented model agencies across LA even if the majority of them had already turned her down, some more than once.

Which was also why she talked the corporate representative of "that dumb cereal company" (yes, that was exactly how she referred to it in her head) into releasing her from the role of Miss Crunchy Bunny three hours early that day so she could make this phone call within business hour, even if Ted from the Sunnyside Agency, aka her _guy_ , had called her "honey" in that insufferable, deflating, faux-sympathetic tone when she'd asked him to make the contact on her behalf.

She knew all the reasons Ted thought her out of her daydreaming mind for wanting to land the Whitmore's spring collection gig. Though Instagram-based, they were a rising star in young women's clothing line and possibly the next up-and-coming fashion icon, while she was a nameless newbie with a year's worth of experience working in nameless commercials, which ironically was even worse than if she'd been freshly out of her southern hometown. She hadn't signed up with a proper agency, had next-to-zero connection in the field, and had never modeled for any fashion brands. Plus she got the news too late-it'd been a week since they put out the ad, enough time for them to find what they wanted along with 10 back-ups.

All in all, Caroline's chances were slim to none. But she had to start somewhere-something she always reminded herself in these situations.

With great effort and some ingenuity on her part that she would deny without a blink if asked, she managed to get the phone number of the person in charge of hiring. She'd already sent her resume with headshots, she just needed an audition, which was proving even more difficult than she'd braced herself for.

"Look Amanda, whatever I tell you on the phone you won't get the confirmation from my headshots." She clutched her phone tighter in her palm, carefully controlling her breathing to appear confident but courteous, without a hint of her desperation seeping through, "I believe you will see what you're looking for when we meet in person."

Amanda, with all due respect, just sounded bored and lethargic, "we are very grateful for your interest in us, Ms. Forbes, and we would be more than happy to include your talent should the need arise. But the list of hirings for our spring collection is almost full at this point, as I'm sure you can understand."

Caroline cursed under her breath. The big agencies must have already sent in their clients. She quickly weighed her options in her head, but giving up was not one of them, "Amanda, it would mean a lot to me if you could reconsider. I may not have any of the renowned agencies to guarantee my potential, but my personal style happens to be the perfect match for the image and concept of your brand, and I know I'm the best person to present your spring collection."

"I'm sorry Ms. Forbes, but-" She didn't have the chance to let out her disheartening sigh before her phone was snatched out of her hand, startling her to shoot up from the street-side bench she was occupying.

Standing in front of her with her phone and a smug smile both reaching his ears was none other than the person she'd left alone at Beverly Hills a week ago. He was back into his casual clothes, the Henley and jeans accentuating all the right plains and curves of his body. His eyes were brought out by the clear blue autumn sky and for a few seconds Caroline actually felt jealousy towards her own phone for getting a feel of his stubbled cheek, when she realized with a gasp that she never got to hang up.

His next words confirmed her reason for panic, "just a minute Amanda, this is Klaus Mikaelson from Mikaelson and Co.," the charm was laid on thick in his hypnotizing voice and extra prominent accent, "yes, I'm representing Ms. Forbes."

Caroline's jaw almost fell off as she listened to his side of the conversation, and as soon as she processed what was going on she lunged for him to get her phone back. Klaus, obviously expecting the move, quickly dashed to the other side of the bench to block Caroline's attempt, all the while smiling and nodding into the phone.

"Of course, I fully understand." He tilted his head to the side, his eyes landing on her with sparkling mischief, "well Caroline was just being prudent, seeing as she wasn't informed that our contract had been finalized just this morning. Yes, a mere understanding that's most easy to clear, I'm sure."

If her eyes widened one bit more Caroline could swear her eyeballs would drop out of their sockets. She stalked to Klaus' side ready to yell at him in his other ear, but the bastard had the nerve to shush her with a single finger to his very distracting lips, which were now curling up into a familiar smirk.

"Indeed we were. Such a hidden gem, she was." Caroline's heart skipped a bit at his words, then started hammering as she saw the unveiled adoration shining in his eyes. "Better late than never, am I right? That was exactly what I said when we discovered Caroline."

The way her name rolled off his tongue gave her shivers, and Caroline had to pinch herself to stay focused on the ongoing conversation.

"She's more than excited. Yeah, she's been a fan for years." Caroline could only assume it was going well judging by the bits and pieces she heard, but his next words prompted a silent squeal out of her throat, "tomorrow, 2 p.m., perfect. I'll make sure to remind her."

She was holding her breath for him to end the call but her mind was already send reeling. Was it for real? Did she make it? Had Klaus Mikaelson just got her her first ever fashion gig? Question after question swirled in her mind and she barely heard how the phone call went down from there until suddenly her phone was handed back to her.

Caroline looked up at him with her heart in throat, but a gentle smile from Klaus was all she needed to know for sure.

She was going to the audition.

For a solid five minutes her mind was sent into overdrive with the excitement and happiness shooting fireworks inside her. She'd screamed and clapped and jumped up and down like crazy, said a thousand "oh my god"s, maybe did a bit of her dorky victory dance that Katherine had sworn to murder her on sight if she ever saw her doing, which she wasn't too sure because she wasn't even registering what she was doing in the moment of pure unadulterated joy.

What she did notice though, was Klaus' eyes dancing with her like the little blue flames she'd seen on the movie _Brave_ (another guilty pleasure of hers that she intended to take to her grave). Every time she blinked to remind herself it wasn't just a dream, every time she twirled in her unparalleled glee, his eyes were always there with her, quietly smiling and sparkling in the softest way she could imagine.

Like the whole universe was distilled into the laughing, squealing, glowing mess that was her, and her alone.

When Caroline finally calmed down and finished putting the audition time into her phone calendar, she looked up to find Klaus still standing there watching her with that warm smile, his eyebrows quirking teasingly at Caroline when she shyly cleared her throat.

"So um…I guess a 'thank you' is in order."

He slightly tilted his head to the side, watching her intently as his voice dropped almost to a whisper, "it was a pleasure to help, Caroline."

The blush on her cheeks burned a few degrees higher at the distinct timbre of his velvety voice when addressing her by the name. Caroline tucked a strand of her unruly hair behind her ear, peeking at him through her lashes, "still, I was almost convinced I wouldn't get the job, but hey…you swooped in and saved the day." She was aiming for cheerful but that came out more bitter than she thought.

Klaus studied her face for a few seconds, his strong arm coming up to hover over the small of her back, guiding her to sit with him on the bench before he locked gaze with her, "as egotistical as I am, which you've already pointed out several times," they shared a chuckle at that, "I can't take full credit for this small victory of yours."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, it could be anyone. They just needed to hear the voice of authority to take anything seriously, and in your case that means a manager of some sort. Ms. Pierce could probably play the part just as well," he let out a small sigh, "though I have to admit it works more effectively when you are male."

Caroline nodded solemnly, knowing he was being honest with her. Her brows then furrowed as an idea struck her, "how did you know all these things?" He was way too smooth on the phone for it to just be a spur-of-the-moment improvisation-almost like he'd done it before.

Klaus grinned at her insightfulness, "believe it or not, I faced the same predicament when I first came to the US as a starving artist." His dimples flashed as his eyes looked somewhere far away in nostalgia, "I got a job as an assistant at an art gallery in New York, but with no connections or references I couldn't find anyone to represent me. So here entered Mr. Wilmore," he turned back to Caroline, a puckish smirk curling his lips as he shifted into a flawless American accent, "manager of striving young artists, and long-term connoisseur of whiskeys."

"Holy shit!" Caroline gaped at him, "it actually worked?"

"It worked for you, didn't it?"

Caroline laughed, still giddy thinking about the phone call, "yeah, you nailed it."

"You did everything you could, love, and you were brilliant from the little I heard on the sideline. I just gave her the final push, which she shouldn't have needed in the first place if not for the cockamamie rules of the business."

" _Cockamamie_? Seriously?" She couldn't hold in the giggle.

Klaus sucked in his lips for a second, shy smile on his face, and the whole scene brushed on Caroline's heart like a feather, "yes, cockamamie, for lack of a better word. Which was part of the reason why…" His tone turned hesitant, "my reaction was less than desirable when I first heard about your career."

"Whatever concerns I may hold," he inhaled deeply, his eyes large from nervousness, "it was wrong of me to have behaved that way, Caroline, and for that I apologize."

"Wow." Caroline blinked a few times, at a loss for speech. With all the excitement going on today she'd almost forgot their disastrous last encounter. She shook her head, laughing a little to lighten the mood, "well I can't exactly stay mad at you after you eavesdropped on my private conversation, took away my phone and took over said conversation without my consent now, can I?"

Laugh vibrated from his chest, "baby steps I'm afraid. But I must say," he licked his lips, "after seeing you in business mode today, I found my previous concerns quite ill-founded."

Caroline raised an eyebrow, "is this where you give me another one of your inappropriate compliments?"

"You don't need my compliments, love, but you have my admiration all the same."

Caroline felt the irresistible tingling all over her body whenever he was staring at her like that, hot and intense till their surroundings started to fade away, "are you always this...slick and suave with girls?"

Klaus tilted his head, eyeing her with amusement, "now who's giving out inappropriate compliments? But since I seem to be back in your good graces now," he stood up and held out his arm for her with old-fashioned flair, "what do you say we get out of here for an impromptu second date?"

"Who said the first date even counted?" Caroline snorted, but wound her hand around his arm nonetheless as she followed suit.

"It counted for me."

Caroline didn't think she could shiver from warmth. But she just did, and the feeling was divine just like the image of a smiling Klaus in the ever-flowing shines of the evening sun.

* * *

"Why Mr. Wilmore?" Caroline blurted out the question before she registered how random it sounded.

She blamed it on the tipsy state of her brain. After all, she'd risked the insane amount of calories and shared a few bites of Klaus' risotto and even a spoonful of tiramisu when they dined at the cozy little Italian bistro.

"Just a bite," Klaus had crooned at her with his damnable accent, "I promise you it'll be worth it."

Indeed it did. Several blocks into their after-dinner walk, and Caroline could still feel her brain cells working themselves into a sweet frenzy, high on the chocolate and cheese, so much so that she'd remembered the tiniest detail he'd revealed in their conversation a good three hours ago.

But Klaus answered the question without a pause, "it was one of the many aliases used by the Count of Monte Cristo in the book."

"Got a bit of a revenge scheme going on there?" Caroline gave a teasing side glance.

Klaus chuckled, "you have to understand I was younger then, about the same age as you."

Caroline nodded silently, not interrupting. They'd shared quite a bit of personal experiences over dinner, but the topic never came up about how Klaus had ended up on a completely strange continent to start a new life, something Caroline didn't think was a mere coincidence, but more purposeful dodging on Klaus' part.

"To put it short, my family wasn't very supportive of my artistic pursuits." Klaus sighed, his eyes darkening briefly, "my father called it a waste of time and threatened to disown me if I insisted on being an artist. So I made it easier for him and packed my bag. I used up all my saved allowance for a ticket to the States." He huffed a laugh, "I thought an ocean in between could cut all ties."

From the dim look on his face it probably didn't, but still Caroline remained silent for him to continue, the cadence of his voice intriguing beyond comprehension.

"The assistant job paid not nearly enough." Klaus shrugged, "I shared a shoebox of an apartment with a mate. I remember one winter when the heating broke, it was the end of the month, and we couldn't even spare enough to tip the super so he could fix it."

Caroline understood the feeling. She'd probably end up on the street if not for Katherine who lent a roof on her head. But no need to dwell on it-a sentiment she just knew Klaus shared, so she just responded with a smirk, "is that why you relocated to LA?"

His rich laugh felt like the best sound she'd ever heard in her life, "one of the many reasons. But the point is…it was a rough period, and I was eager to prove myself. Thus, Mr. Wilmore."

"Hmmm…so how come you didn't use that alias at the night school?"

"Klaus Wilmore doesn't have much of a ring to it, does it?" Klaus winked at her, "It lacks the _pizzazz_."

He was clearly teasing her, because there was no way that word existed in Niklaus Mikaelson's refined British vocabulary-he must have borrowed it from her animated speech during their dinner. The thought put a secret smile to the corner of Caroline's mouth despite the half-hearted scoff she threw his way.

"You never did answer me though," she asked after a short silence, "what were you doing at the night school?" She and Katherine had made a long list of speculations by that time, the content growing weirder by the day.

"I thought we've covered that last time." The casual smile didn't leave Klaus' face, but Caroline could tell from the way his eyelashes lowered and his lips pursed that he was trying to avoid the topic, and she was having none of it.

"You sure about that? Because, I don't know, I thought artists go to Tahiti for inspiration, not some nameless night school with shitty lighting." She huffed at his surprised look, sticking her chin out, "and yeah, I did pay _some_ attention in my high school art classes." And it didn't hurt to have an artist as a roommate who had a snide remark reserved for any artist in existence, but she held that information to herself, "but don't even try to deflect!"

Klaus sighed, exasperated at her insistence, "fine, if you must know, I've hit an artist's block, or whatever you call it." He ran a hand through his soft curls, "I thought perhaps going back to beginner level art classes could help me remember what it felt like when I first started."

"But why not going forward?" Caroline was confused, "like, take a vacation, meet new people, break out of your comfort zone? I'm not saying the night school isn't a new scene, but I didn't see you interacting with anyone."

"It's not about that."

"Then what _is_ it about?" Caroline threw her hands in the air, her patience running thin. It's like pulling teeth with him.

Klaus didn't respond, his eyes fixing on anything but her, his face turned into the shadows. The silence between them grew into a booming pressure and Caroline began to feel hard to breathe. She felt rejected somehow, cold sadness gripping at her heart. Stuffing her hands into the pockets of her coat, Caroline's pace slowed to a halt.

But Klaus sensed it instantly like they were physically connected, his body whirling around to face her. She could hear his deep sigh just above her ear, and her stomach fluttered at the bone-weakening sound.

"Truth be told, I haven't quite figured it out myself. My art is…lucrative, as you can see," his laugh sounded hollow, "but nothing more. And it scares me that I'm losing that passion in which I've always prided myself."

Caroline pictured herself losing that raw passion about modeling. Not feeling her heart quicken and her skin flush at the lights and sounds on stage. Not feeling the anticipation about the crowd waiting for her appearance. Not feeling the smile on her own face when she made the first step. She shuddered at the bleak prospect.

"Can I ask you how you chose your creative style?" Caroline uttered the question that she'd been harboring ever since she saw Klaus' paintings on line. She could be wrong, but they just didn't feel very…Klaus. They didn't sing like his eyes, they didn't tell like his smiles, they didn't even hide little secrets like his adorable dimples.

If she had to take a guess at what Klaus' paintings would be like…Caroline pushed the vibrant images filling her phone out of her mind.

"Well…" Klaus contemplated her unexpected question, "I didn't. The market chose. I deliver."

"You see? That's your problem!" Caroline jumped up at her sudden revelation, the move at last drawing a laugh from Klaus. Yet Caroline was far from satisfied, "I'm being serious! You are an artist, you don't have to give people what they want. That's like, _my_ job."

Klaus chuckled at her almost comic expressions, sighing dramatically as he resumed their walk, "alas, to the devils I sold my soul."

"At least you've still got your talent." Caroline followed him, this time her tone light as her steps.

"Why Ms. Forbes, is that jealousy I detect in your voice?"

Caroline rolled her eyes, "don't flatter yourself. But it's true," she nodded matter-of-factly, "I've never been the talented type. And it's fine, really. Everything I've achieved, I achieved through hard work. That's something nobody can take away from me."

Growing up she'd been bothered by her mediocrity, always intimated in the face of those kids who were born with the aptitude to ace everything at the first try. But not anymore. Not when she'd built a life for herself far away from home.

And even if it turned out not for her she'd at least know there was nothing more she could do.

"How do you do it?" Klaus stuttered a bit at her confused look, his head tilted to the side, little creases forming between his eyebrows as if he was trying with all his might to figure her out, "you're…you're so sure about this, about what you want. What if it isn't what it appears to be?"

The question wasn't really about her, that much Caroline knew; but the funny thing was, she probably couldn't find a question more directed at her if she tried, and at that moment, she happened to be ready to answer.

"To be honest, I don't know what will happen tomorrow. Maybe I make it, maybe I don't." She bit her lips, trying to put her tumbling thoughts into words, "it's kind of like the stage, you know? You go on there and the lights blind you. Beyond that it's all dark. It can be so scary sometimes." A smile graced her troubled lips thinking about how far she'd come since she took the leap of faith, "but that's the beauty of it all-sometimes you just have to whip up a smile and march on."

Their pace once again slowed down as they entered a small square on the side of the road, the fountain at display in the center of the square still sprouting two lines of winding, glowing streams, forming an archway in the cool night air.

Breathing in the refreshing scent of water, Caroline smiled as she felt the familiar scorching sensation that she'd come to associate with Klaus' intense gaze. It may be from the moisture saturating her lungs but Caroline's heart swelled, tender to the touch, as emotions that she'd not yet sorted out took the chance to make their incessant assault.

"What?" She turned to face him, instantly drowned in the depth of those pools of sapphire that seemed endless absorbing all the streetlight.

"Have I told you that you take my breath away by simply being you, Caroline?"

Caroline's eyes widened as his hand reached over to brush away a drop of water splashed on her cheekbone, the spot where their skin came into contact freezing before turning white hot, then cooling down in a flash as his fingers retreated. It was like the four seasons tucked into one single touch, overwhelming all her senses in just one fleeting second.

For the second time that evening she felt a drunken-like giddiness, something she'd only ever experienced under the focus of spotlights after she quit alcohol. A sudden urge burnt inside her like fire, making her bold and adventurous.

"If real life Caroline can already make you feel that way," she leaned over to breathe into his ear, "stage Caroline will blow. Your. Mind."

Not waiting to savor his quiet gasp, she took off her coat and threw it into Klaus' hands, walking backwards till she reached the other side of the fountain, all the while staring into his wonderstruck face with the most radiant smile.

Taking off her heels, she did a start pose before stepping into the water-formed archway of the fountain on her tiptoes. The water under her feet was cold but Caroline barely registered it. She was on stage, she was on the freaking runway, and nothing could stop her until she'd made her round, not the absence of music, not her brazen heart that warranted ten speeding tickets, not the thick mist floating between her and her only audience.

And even through that mist and the countless beams of light it was reflecting, she could still feel his eyes on her, piercing as a lightning bolt that left you changed for life and soft as a midnight caress that vowed to stay true. Caroline had read about a million and one methods on how to engage her audiences but all fell flat as the easiest, most natural way just presented itself-

She would simply think of them as the man watching her march through a fountain on an October night, whose gaze made the short walk feel like flying free.

And when she stepped out of the archway right into the warm coat and soft smile that Klaus was holding out for her, Caroline felt like all the scattered parts of her life were finally fitting into each other seamlessly.

* * *

How long did it take for someone's life to teeter to the side, and you just watched as everything started sliding down into void with helpless frightened eyes?

There should be some kind of equation for this. Take your level of contentment with your current life events, and the amount of faith you put in striving under pressure, then throw in a few indexes about expectations, mental status, sense of security and self-worth and whatever random elements and there you should have it. The exact amount of time for it to spiral into an unsolvable mess.

For Caroline, that amount of time was five minutes.

She was lounging on the couch with a morning cup of coffee, humming her favorite song while refreshing the webpage on her laptop screen every few minutes.

Katherine plodded past her with a grunt, "it's been two weeks. If you don't stop being this chipper I'll have to kick you out."

Caroline laughed, "no you won't. You love me."

Katherine rolled her eyes, flopping down beside Caroline, "yeah apparently I love all things that are likely to kill me. Pills with overdose, sex with heart attack, and you with your lethal positivity."

"Lethal positivity," Caroline tasted the phrase on her tongue, hitting refresh again with an extra bounce to her finger, "that could be the name of my band."

"Keep dreaming, Forbes. I'd see you in an orgy before I see you in a band." Ignoring Caroline who was sticking her tongue out at her, Katherine glanced at the screen, "not out yet?"

"No, but it should be any minute now."

Caroline was right in her judgment about Whitmore's-she was the perfect match for their style. She crushed the audition with flying colors, and the actual photo-shoot went more than smoothly. Their first round of promotion for the spring collection was set for 8 o'clock sharp that morning, for which Caroline felt ten times the excitement she'd experienced when she received the check.

"Aw, look at our sweet little Carebear. The perfect job, the not so perfect man," Katherine smirked, "who'd have thought?"

"It was just two dates." Caroline took a sip of her coffee, trying to hide the smile creeping up her face, "it could go anywhere."

She hadn't seen Klaus since the day he got her the audition, what with juggling her three different work schedules and checking on her mom whenever she got a scrap of free time.

To Caroline's utter relief, she was back in contact with her mom shortly after Matt called, and their answers combined managed to put her anxious heart to rest. Her mom was just being her mom, throwing herself into work and constantly forgetting to check her phone. Since then they'd both made an effort to keep in touch. The time difference was still a bitch, but this new routine they'd established greatly steadied Caroline's mindset.

And as reluctant as she was to admit, so did Klaus. Though they hadn't shared words for the past two weeks, the sweet hopeful look on his face when they last parted ways was constantly on display in her head.

"Will I be hearing you gushing about the successful audition on our next date?" He'd asked her down the building of her apartment, moonlight brushing over his delectable features.

She'd feigned offence at his presumptuousness, but agreed with a soft peck on his stubbled cheek before rushing upstairs, the electric shock on her lips leaving their lingering effect for days.

"Whatever you say, do _not_ make googly eyes at each other at my class tonight." Katherine's voice pulled her out of her memories, "but you can keep the daydreaming though. Gives you a sexy vibe."

"Hey! I resent that." Caroline glared at her before she raised her chin smugly, "I'm sexy all the time."

"In someone's eyes more than others'." Katherine snorted a laugh, "which reminds me, Mr. Mikaelson still hasn't handed in his last drawing of you-talking about attached. I'm seriously considering failing him."

The news surprised Caroline a little, but she couldn't help but imagining him finishing the drawing at home in an hour and then staring at it for days or even weeks, comparing each line of her face with the newly-acquired memories, too fascinated to let it go.

"You know Kat," she fingered the rim of her coffee cup, "I think this could actually work. I mean, there will be difficulties, tons of them, I'm still going to focus on my career and he has to deal with…whatever problem he has," she stopped herself before divulging Klaus' secret, "but I have a good feeling about it."

"Good." A rare genuine smile warmed Katherine's eyes before she turned a bossy finger toward the laptop, "now go refresh your webpage. I don't have all morning to sit here."

Caroline shook her head at the brunette before hitting the button.

Following the crisp click sound came the promotion picture that she'd vividly remembered. So they were going with the sunflower one. Cute choice. The background was just as she imagined, the skirt of the long lacy dress flowing perfectly midair (courtesy of a dozen fans blowing like crazy but who cares), the lighting bright but soft with a golden hue, and the model smiling-

That was when she froze.

The blonde standing in the middle of the picture with a radiant smile was definitely _not_ her.

"But how…"

She couldn't understand it. She went through a whole day of endless shooting. She changed her outfits a thousand times in that dingy little dressing room, she fixed her own make-up, she smiled until her face was numb and the poses she went through could fit a 500-page book. There was no way they could just discard her effort like that…could they?

Katherine jumped up in a flash to hover over the screen, "wait? They changed you? Without even a warning? That was one hell of a dick move."

"Yeah…I guess they did." That tiny weeny whisper didn't sound like her voice. A part of her wanted to rave and rant like Katherine did, but something was blocking her throat and holding her hostage on their old squeaky couch, staring at a face that was not hers unable to cast her eyes away.

Katherine enveloped her in a brief hug, rubbing her back a little forcefully, "I'm so sorry, Caroline." She released her to once again examine the picture, giving out a loud huff, "those people must be blind out of their minds. That chick's nowhere near as good as you."

Caroline didn't reply, knowing that Katherine wasn't exactly unbiased on the matter. The other model in her spot was just as good as she. But that was the problem. The thorn that had been digging in the deepest layers of her heart, the nameless fear that haunted her subconscious all this time.

She wondered if she would feel a smidgen of comfort if the girl was better, worse, just…anything different than her. Yet as it was she appeared to be just another blonde white girl with a sweet face, nice posture, average-sized breasts and a hidden ambition. The few half-hearted feedbacks she'd got from the dozens of agencies that rejected her refluxed through her mind, flooding her with the one weakness that she could not fix no matter how hard she tried.

Caroline was not special, or unique, or unorthodox. She was _interchangeable_.

She felt cornered by the stares shooting at her from both sides, the worried one from Katherine, and the empty one from _Not_ -Caroline. She didn't know what to say, or how to react. She was a lost soul trapped in this painfully mediocre husk of hers.

The sudden ringing of her phone granted her seconds of relief, before the caller ID added another layer of worry and bewilderment to her mind that was still in shock.

"Matt?"

"Caroline…I need you to stay calm for this."

The slight tremble in his voice almost stopped her heart, "Matt…What's wrong?" Realization hit her like a freezing snow storm, "Is it my mom?"

"Listen Caroline…she's stable now. The doctors are working on a treatment."

"My mom's in hospital? But…but she was fine. We just talked yesterday."

There was a short pause before Matt sighed, "There's a tumor in her brain. We didn't tell you because she didn't want you to worry. The doctors are not sure yet…it might be harmless."

Harmless? How could it be harmless when her mom ended up in the freaking hospital?

She barely registered the rest of the things Matt was saying. In fact she barely registered anything at all, except for the growing dark pit in her stomach and her weak voice, speaking into the phone or in her own head she wasn't sure, "I'm going home."

She didn't know when she'd hung up the phone, or how she'd dragged her suitcase out and started throwing everything she could see inside, or when Katherine started helping her without asking. All of these went around her in slow motion, but felt like a blur, like her head couldn't keep up with her senses and her heart couldn't keep up with her head.

"Katherine," suddenly she heard herself speaking in an eerily calm voice, "I'm sorry, but I don't think I can be modeling for you tonight."

She had so many things to do. She had to finish packing, buy last-minute tickets, make arrangements with work, and pick up the replacement parts for her goddamn bookcase. She had too much to do and too little time to spare.

"Of course." Katherine muttered. As if on second thought, she put a hand on Caroline's shoulder, her eyes hesitant, "do you need me to tell Klaus for you?"

For a few seconds in her slow-flowing, mind-numbing, glacier-like time, pulsating lights and shadows of fountains, chandeliers, sunset, evening sky whirled through, but they were as colorful as they were fleeting.

"Kat…" Caroline breathed quietly, "I may not be coming back."

* * *

Her giant suitcase grated over the uneven cement as Caroline trudged into the dark alley with heavy steps. She didn't know why she felt the need to go there-as important as this place had grown to her, she had more urgent matters at hand. Plus she had all the pictures saved neatly in her phone, her digital secret garden that she could actually take with her anywhere. It should have been enough.

But the miraculous little spot called to her like a piece of her own fresh and bones. The pull was so strong that Caroline forwent her habit of always going to the airport with a few hours to spare.

Matt had messaged her sometime around that afternoon, telling her that her mom was awake and to not worry too much. She read the message and continued packing, not only her suitcase but all her remaining things in case she'd need Katherine to ship them to her later.

Aside from clothes and other essential items, she'd only packed her DVD of Casablanca with her. It was unnecessary, she knew-she could always stream it online if she ever wanted to rewatch and she doubted she'd have the time or spirit to do so. Nevertheless, it was the only "extra" thing she took with her from home, so it felt like full circle.

She pictured the life she would have as the sheriff's daughter in Mystic Falls-how her life should be in the eyes of most town's folk. She would probably take a bland job in the Mayor's office, planning equally bland town events. Everyone would know her, they'd smile and even hug her when they meet at the Mystic Grill and gossip about her when she was not present-her outfit, her job, her _marriage_.

It felt suffocating thinking about it. Not deadly suffocating, but suffocating in the way of a humid September night in the south when your AC was not working, but you know autumn was around the corner and soon came winter and you just wanted to go back to sleep.

Caroline stopped in front of one of her favorite frames of painting on the warehouse wall and reached out her hand. Just touching the dried paints of blue and green made breathing easier for her. Smiling fondly, she traced the lines with her finger, knowing the directions by heart even if there was no streetlight.

It was almost ironic, considering the "we'll always have Paris" line from the DVD tucked in her suitcase. Could she keep LA? Or did the city just cast her away without uttering a word, like it did with this abandoned neighborhood?

She was startled from her pondering as his voice sounded just behind her, "I thought you owed me a third date."

"How did you know I was here?" Caroline should be surprised, but strangely she wasn't. Not one bit. It was like subconsciously she was expecting him.

Klaus took one step closer until she could name every shade of blue in his eyes, his breath hot on her skin, "Didn't you mean why I am here?"

But Caroline knew why he was here, so she just silently stared at him until he let out a relenting sigh.

"You didn't show up for the class. Katherine told me what happened." He looked hesitant and apologetic, his hands twitching at his sides as if dying to reach out.

Caroline didn't want to hear what was bound to come, so she just grinned at him, "that's Ms. Pierce to you."

"Caroline…"

"She's already thinking about failing you, you know?" She chuckled a little, but it sounded hollow in the reverberation of the alley, "ditching classes doesn't exactly get you extra credits."

Klaus sighed, his hands gently grabbing onto Caroline's upper arms, the warmth instantly seeping through her coat and burned her so deliciously, "Caroline."

"I'm leaving Klaus."

She thought it would be like ripping off band-aids, one swift move and the pain would only diminish from then and there, but she wasn't prepared for the millions of unvisited possibilities bleeding out of the invisible wound, flooding her with such devastating raw force that she had to lean into his arms a little to steady herself.

"Let me guess, one-way ticket?" Exasperation lined his words but Klaus' hands supporting her were firm yet gentle.

Caroline stepped back outside of his arms, turning around to pace further down the wall, her eyes caressing the incredible artwork along the way, "on our first date," the corners of her lips curled up at the word, "you asked me if there were any favorite spots of mine in the city. Well, this is it…and now also the fountain." She whispered after a pause, suddenly not feeling like holding back anymore.

She heard the soft intake of breath behind her, but went on with her monologue, "but this was the first place that spoke to me, you know? I just got to LA at the time, and it must have been some cosmic intervention that I just bumped into all this art, and felt a connection."

She spun around to face Klaus. Again his face was unreadable, the expression something between wistful longing and burning desire, and the little sparks of light in his eyes almost resembled pure delight. But still she didn't stop her speech, "but whoever was painting these stopped…and I guess that's just how things are."

"Not necessarily." Klaus spoke up, his eyes turning mischievous as he casually took her hand with one hand and her suitcase in the other, leading her forward, their hands close to humming on their own as the sensations ran wildly through.

Turning a corner, Klaus stopped in front of another side of walls. Stepping aside, he gestured his chin towards the once blank concrete, a mysterious smirk adorning his suspiciously smug face.

Looking over at the wall, Caroline gasped, her hands flying up to her mouth.

There in front of her, with vibrant colors, bold lines and raw passion, was a new painting she'd never seen before. The stunning hues of turquoise briefly outlined an intriguing oxymoron of a pattern, soft yet strong, stagnant still with hidden momentum, confined, but free. Looking closely Caroline could discern the painting for that of a woman's body from shoulders to arms, but it could also be interpreted as a bird that was flapping its wings just about to take off.

It was truly breathtaking, as always.

"How…how did you…?" Traces and clues hidden under the surface of their past encounters tumbled around in her mind, but just out of reach for Caroline to pin them together.

Klaus lowered his head a little, and all Caroline could see was the dark curves of his eyelashes fluttering in a shy smile, "I wasn't planning on ever coming back here. With all the business deals coming in, the fame and fortune as you so eloquently put, this…this became something that I could never really have, or so I thought," his eyes snapped up, locking with hers like magnets, "until I met you, Caroline."

The meaning of his words slowly sank in as a wave of mixing emotions rushed through her. Tears sprung to her eyes with the hot sting of a million pieces of broken stars, but Caroline could find no reason nor solution for it as she bit down hard on her trembling lips to stop them from spilling over.

Klaus silently approached her, trapping her between his hard chest and the painting that was now burned in her mind. _His_ painting. He traced a strand of Caroline's hair framing her flushed cheek, but his eyes never left hers, "I've never believed in fate. All I know is that…now that you've showed up in my life, I don't ever intend to let you go."

Caroline flinched away from him, his feather-like touch weighing on her heavy as lead, "and I wish we could but…this may sound cliché, but it just isn't the right time."

"Oh trust me I know all about the 'right time', love." Klaus let out a humorless laugh, "seven years ago I told myself there would be a 'right time' when I could make art the way I wanted, and look where that left me."

Caroline sighed frustrated, her voice raising, "it's not the same thing!"

"It's exactly the same thing!" Klaus clenched his jaw, "look, you could tell yourself that LA isn't for you and you'd wound up better back home. Hell, I should probably scramble to Tahiti like you suggested than wasting my time in a bloody night school." That stung, and the hurt must have shown on her face because Klaus took one look at her and his face softened, "but we both know what we'll be missing by doing what we're supposed to."

Caroline could feel her resolve crumbling and suddenly enraged, she pushed Klaus back to release herself, "what are you even trying to achieve here? My mom is in hospital. She needs me and I need to be there for her and that's the prime priority for me right now. This isn't a movie. I can't just decide to stay in a city because I…"

She held off the last part of that sentence, too afraid to speak it out loud, her heart hammering in her chest as she watched Klaus' eyes light up in the suspending silence.

"And I believe with all my heart that you should make that decision for yourself in time, taking all things into consideration, with an at least 3 page pros-and-cons list." He smirked teasingly, "but I don't think that time is now. You are still missing one major fact, sweetheart."

"And what fact is that?"

Klaus cupped her face in his palms, "You don't know what it is like to fall in love with me."

Time came to a halt as Caroline indulged herself a moment in his all-consuming, all-encompassing eyes. It wouldn't be so hard for his words to be true if she could spend the rest of her time doing nothing but losing herself in those blue seas. But…

"What if I can't get there in the end?" Her voice sounded so small now, and Klaus rubbed his thumb gently over her cheekbones.

"Maybe we make it, maybe we don't." Smiling he repeated her own words at her, "but isn't that the beauty of it all?"

Caroline thought about his words-her words really. She thought about all the things that could happen, the good, the bad. She thought about how his art alone offered her solace when she was starting off in a complete strange city, and how he was, and could be, so much more.

With a new-found lightness in heart, Caroline turned around to observe the painting again. The notion that Klaus painted it for her to one day find sent an endearing warm surge through her. As she stared at the painting longer, the lines seemed familiar somehow, like she was looking into a mirror, but not quite.

"Klaus," Caroline spun around with widened eyes, "is that me?"

Klaus tilted his head, his hands crossing behind his back, "well you seemed rather peeved that I opted for your face instead of your back, so…"

Caroline was too busy examining the painting in this new light to mind his teasing. If the painting was beautiful and inspiring before, now it made her head spin, her knees weak and her chest filled up with all that it exuded-surprise, admiration, insecurity, desire, even lust.

"You really intended for me to see this?" The intimacy of the gesture shook her to her core.

Klaus stepped closer till her back was against his chest, his hands resting on her shoulders, "when we first met, you bared your very beautiful body to me-"

Caroline rolled her eyes, "and 20 other people, but go on."

"-and I feel this yearning I couldn't fight off…to bare my very soul to you."

Her breath hitched as he traced the lines of her shoulders, "you know love, as mesmerizing as your face is," he chuckled into the crook of her neck, "I fell for the stubborn lines of your shoulder blades first."

She spun around, not satisfied with the only one affected, "well aren't you full of pretty words tonight?" She outlined the curve of his lower lips with her index finger, suppressing the desire to replace it with her own lips, "and here I thought your hands are the talented parts of you."

"There's nothing wrong with loving pretty words, love." His eyes grew dark, "as for my talented hands," he gave her a suggestive smirk, "I'm sure they'll manage to find a way to prove themselves to you."

Her body burned at those words, already feeling the phantom touch of his long fingers roaming all over her. She'd want nothing more than to take him and her suitcase back to her apartment right that second and…

Like a bucket of cold water splashing at her, Caroline jumped with a start, "but I need to go home, tonight. My mom…I have to…"

"Then go." Klaus' hands on her arms calmed her panicked stuttering, "look after your mom, and look after yourself. Just…promise you'll give us a chance." His eyes held her in place, "we are on our third date now. I'd like to flatter myself that there will be a fourth…and many more to come."

Caroline's heart quickened again, this time for a very different reason. She whispered quietly, her eyes now drawn to his slightly opened lips, "and how are you going to ensure that?"

She felt Klaus drawing nearer and nearer, the move agonizingly slow, but still invisible sparks crackled in the scorching air between their hungered lips. Their forehead touched, their nose leaning together, but all Caroline could focus on was the hot, steaming, electric _absence_ of his lips on her. They hovered there for a long minute, breathing each other in, soft moans lingering in their parched throats, but neither let them out to disrupt the ever-increasing but never-reaching closeness.

When Caroline felt her heart couldn't take it anymore, she felt more than heard Klaus whispering, "I'll save the rest for when we meet again."

He finally drew back, and the night air felt so cold on her lips a shiver went down her spine. Caroline cleared her throat, trying to diffuse the tension that was still building all over her like flames, "just a kiss as leverage? You artists and your artistic thinking."

Klaus chuckled, rolling her suitcase over and put his other hand over the small of her back, "you'd better give my _artistic thinking_ some credit, love. For now, we get you on that flight home. And next time," just as they were about to start walking out of the alley, Klaus leaned over and whispered in her ear, "I'm going to paint murals inside you. You'll be able to feel every stroke...long and hard. And then you'll burst into a million vibrating colors-but only for my eyes to see, Caroline."

He caught her when she almost swayed on her feet, smirking devilishly, "how's that for leverage?"

As they walked into the silent night, leaving his paintings temporarily behind, Caroline felt like she was on stage once more. Spreading in front of her was miles of unknown darkness, and all she could feel was his eyes on her, steadying and freeing at the same time.

In that moment, there were only two things she was sure about.

One: she was going to come back to take a picture of _her_ painting.

And two: Katherine was right-the guy did know his foreplay.


	11. Embedded

**Author's Note:** Written for Klaroline Sweet Swap as a gift for cupcakemolotov. (Okay so that was over 3 months ago and I totally procrastinated again.) Soulmate AU.

* * *

Ever since that fateful night when she became a vampire almost a decade ago (something Caroline had come to deem as a blessing in disguise in her own head), Caroline had never felt this _human_ as she shivered uncontrollably from another harsh gush of wind hitting her sweat-drenched shirt.

As hard as she tried to contain the movement to the minimum, she still had to bite her tongue for the thousandth time to keep herself from screaming out at the blinding pain piercing from her heart, ironically just as sharp as the first time that witchy bitch rammed the key in there with her damned witchy mojos–you'd think her tough, _dead_ , fist-sized cluster of muscles would have worn the stupid piece of metal out somehow after the past god-knew-how-many hours.

But oh no, the pesky little thing was apparently as resilient as her own heart which, like her, just didn't know when to back down. The hard teeth of old copper kept digging and the tender flesh remained sensitive as ever without numbing for even the slightest bit, diligently reminding Caroline of the presence of a strange, unconsented object in her body (like she had to be reminded of that). And to think she'd thought the bloody antique was pretty when Beatrice first fished it out of the ancient-looking cloth wrap.

Caroline had to laugh. It was just like her to admire a key presented by her mysterious kidnapper, and just her luck that said key would be lodged into her heart seconds later without a reason. Well, to be fair the witch did give her a reason, but "I was bored out of my mind after living for more than a millennia and I'd like to poke fun at my dear old frenemy by sticking a key inside a vital organ of his hearsay lady friend" was hardly a convincing one, let alone justifiable.

And to top it all off, she was left under this nameless cliff with a snapped neck and her kidnapper nowhere in sight. Stuck between high waters and a hard place, Caroline had no choice but to mix idioms with her pain-meddled brain and go _up_.

The pain in her heart was unrelenting, but that wasn't the worst part. Caroline could feel blood seeping out of the open wound, spilling everywhere inside her body which was weakening by the second because her life source wasn't going where it should. She was nauseous and dizzy, her limbs felt like they weighed a ton, she was sore and sweating from all the strains of climbing up a freaking cliff-all symptoms she thought she'd ever suffer from again.

Not after she died and came back as an immortal monster.

But lately it felt like no matter how much she'd seen and experienced and grown, nature always had a way of showing her just how naïve she still was. Like actually believing she was invincible because she sucked blood, ran faster and could heal from a few little scratches. Or because she caught the eyes of the self-claimed "most powerful creature on earth"-not that Caroline would ever admit out loud to _that_.

Yet stranded on the side of steep rocks in the middle of the night, the only sound scratching on her eardrums the derisive hisses of the ocean waves, for a moment she felt more vulnerable than when she was merely a fragile human teenage cheerleader, when she could-and did indeed-die from pretty much anything that was remotely harmful in the world.

Caroline wondered if she'd relied too much on her vampire powers, spoiled by them even. Unlike most of her kind, vampirism had always felt like more of a liberating gift than an unbreakable curse to her. A safety rope, if you will-Caroline snickered at the untimely analogy. What she wouldn't give to have one of those around her waist right now.

Or a pair of strong arms that would startle her and suck the air out of her lungs without a single squeeze, the touch of his skin doing wonders to her body even when blocked with layers of clothes, making her freeze and heat up at the same time. And then there would come the hot whisper alongside her earlobe, careless of or perhaps purposefully being intrusive, whatever meaning the words conveyed registering at least half a minute later than the warmth of his breath and the electricity that particular pitch of voice sent through whichever side of her he was leaning to, making the other side cold and wanting.

"You like being a vampire even more than you let on, love." There was always a hint of smile in his voice when they were positioned like that. She still hadn't figured out how he did that, putting expressions on his sinful voice when half the time people couldn't even read them from his equally sinful face-and the other half they just thought they did, falling for the little show that he was so pleased to put on.

"What did I say about projecting, Klaus?"

"What did I say about deflecting, Caroline?"

He always did that. Caressing her name on his tongue like it was the most natural thing in existence, like there wasn't a fire simmering at the back of his throat and she could feel the heat far across the charged air between them.

"Well I'm not denying anything, am I?"

Klaus had smirked at her concession, "that does sound like a major improvement."

Truth was it was one of the few rare things about which she didn't mind being totally honest with him. Their encounters were short as the winter solstice days when not much light was supposed to shine through, and they spoke in riddles that blurred into puffs of mist as soon as they were breathed through the achingly hot lips.

But she did like being a vampire, maybe a little too much. She grew so comfortable in her monster skin that once it was stripped like now, she felt even less than a human. What did they say again? What nature giveth, nature taketh away-yep, Mother Nature was a bitch, just like Beatrice who stuck keys in people's heart for some afternoon teatime recreation and then left them on deserted shores to _not die_.

At least she wouldn't die.

Another round of dizziness attacked at her and Caroline gripped onto the cutting rocks with all her might. She saw a patch of white protruding out of the mangled flesh of her fingers but didn't have the heart to check if it was her own bone-she could barely feel it anyway, everything fading in comparison to the white-hot glaring agony in the middle of her chest.

Caroline was no stranger to pain. In fact she doubted any supernatural being was, considering two of the three main species originated from death, be it of others or their own. It sucked, sure, but it was par for the course. There was immortality (or above-average longevity in some cases), the steamy supernatural-element-infused sex, and then there was the pain. That was just how things were.

 _Don't just breathe through it. That's amateurs' trick._ She could hear Klaus' soft voice as she swallowed another lump of blood and clots down her throat, which brought a tiny twisted smile to her trembling lips. Sometimes the guy was just the epitome of mansplaining and had not a clue that she only played along because she liked the feeling of his voice buzzing under her skin and she didn't want it to stop.

"Breathing through is just another way of fighting the pain. You don't fight the pain. You embrace it, become one with it." She remembered his words in one of their mindless post-sex conversations when she asked about the turning of werewolves, "it's…somewhat similar to riding a horse. Let your bones be shaken and just go with it. Of course you'd be sore in the morning," she merely hummed at his obvious innuendo, too comfortable curled up on his chest to make it a snort, "but in the moment it's the most freeing thing in the world."

"See there's a difference. You wolves are actually riding this 'horse of pain' to somewhere-the woods, moonlit wilderness, call of nature, scattered bunnies-" he pinched her ass for that and swallowed her light yelp with a rough kiss, "-whatever. But for others it's more like a carousel. Just stuck there, no purpose, no point."

As she said, sometimes he was the epitome of mansplaining. But just as often, in moments like these, she found his eyes glued to her with wonder and awe like she was the single most suspending plot-twist in the history of literature.

"Then you find a point. If anyone can do it, it's you, sweetheart."

Caroline wasn't so sure about that right now. She'd been painstakingly climbing ever since she woke up at the bottom of the cliff and exhausted all dead-ends of finding a way out-no people, no ships, no twigs to make a craft, no whale or dolphin rides to catch, and she didn't think waiting down there would do her any good. Beatrice wasn't that stupid.

That old hag wanted to have fun, and Caroline doubted her idea of fun was "young half-desiccated vampire damsel rescued after three days of distress under a cliff". For all she knew the last shenanigan Beatrice pulled for her personal entertainment was messing with the soulmate business. No one with half a sane mind would commit such a deed-people's, well, vampires' hearts were on the line.

Caroline could still recall laughing close to tears when she first heard about the soulmate myth. It was shortly after she was turned, when she accidentally walked in on her then best friend's then vampire boyfriend changing and saw the tattoo-like little mark on his back. She'd felt eerily strange about the mark, her feet seconds from flashing her off on some inexplicable survival instinct when her eyes couldn't look away, like whenever her other friend Bonnie lit candles with a snap of her fingers. It smelt magic from a mile away, and extremely powerful one at that.

But she still laughed nonstop when Stefan patiently regaled her with the soulmate myth passed on through generations of vampires, about how almost every vampire was destined to meet a soulmate in their immortal life, who bore the exact same soulmate mark that they did since the successful transition into a vampire.

She couldn't help it. It sounded too much like a mockery, an eternity of waiting for the other monster half of you, not knowing if they were not yet born, or dead centuries, eons, before you. A fate written in the ashes of stars-with dried blood.

But Stefan was all dreamy-eyed about it, his normally broody face lighting up in the ever-darkness of the room, "it gives us a meaning, Caroline. Something to look forward to."

"You really believe in this stuff, huh?"

"Well you don't have to take my word for it." Stefan only shrugged good-naturedly, "when you go back home, find yours and touch it. You'll know what I mean when you feel…the call."

It was then that Caroline realized something was wrong.

She was always attentive to her body, every square inch of it. She spent a good ten minutes inspecting herself back and front every day after she took a shower. She'd noticed how her old (or fairly new, but she wouldn't dwell on that) scars were gradually fading after she turned, how the veins on the inner side of her arms seemed a shade bluer because of the slight change of her skin tone, but never a mark like this.

That night she prolonged her self-inspecting routine, bringing in two extra hand-hold mirrors other than the huge one on the wall of her bathroom. Three mirrors reflecting inside one another with a million Carolines trapped in creepy optical tunnels and corridors but not one of them was blessed with even a smudge of magic ink.

Later she learned the word "outlier", whispered in pity or mocking sneers. A vampire without a soulmate mark.

At first it didn't feel like much of a loss. So many possibilities had already been ripped from her without warning since she, well, died. She didn't get to grow old, she didn't get to have kids, she didn't get to have a normal human life. Instead she got faster, higher, stronger. Not too shabby a bargain if you asked her.

And now she didn't get to meet a soulmate. It would just be fleeting affairs and nameless sex and occasional orgies. So basically, a Wednesday night for the rest of eternity. Not a big deal, considering she was already stuck in the filler year of age seventeen.

But as the years went by and she'd heard so many vampire couples talking about that "click" when they saw each other's matching marks, how they could sense each other's feelings and whatnot and how "whole" they felt together; when one after another her vampire boyfriends either left her, or used her, or treated her like trash because they "didn't have a future", Caroline had started to feel the unbearable weight of nothingness.

Stefan had told her all about the "call". You were supposed to feel a poignant sense of longing and desire when you touch your mark, like pushing down a button that connected to your mother ship (her words, of course). Yet even without an arbitrary little mark Caroline could feel that damned call all the same, only hers didn't lead to anywhere, except the phantom itching spread out all over her alabaster skin that was starting to evolve into a bone-deep pain. The constant scratching of her hollowed soul.

"Do you still believe in soulmates?" Beatrice had asked her, sitting right across the chair where she'd kept Caroline immobile with magic.

Caroline answered her with a scoff, "what, so you kidnapped me here to have high school locker-room girl talk?"

"So sharp a tongue; so eager to hide the rest." Beatrice shook her head in condescending amusement, "you and Niklaus."

"-are none of your business."

Beatrice shrugged, "no need to point out the obvious, little vampire. We both know that's the exhilarating part."

Caroline sighed, "can't you go watch some reality shows or something? I could even do you a favor and open you a premium account on Netflix with Klaus' credit card. I'm sure he won't mind, seeing as you go way back, according to you."

"Kind as that offer is," Beatrice's green eyes gleamed in the dim lights of the room, "I prefer the old-fashioned way of meddling in person. Now back to my question: do you still believe in soulmates?"

Caroline sucked in a breath as she began to feel the claws of a magic-induced migraine digging at her skull, "wouldn't you like to know."

"Indeed I do." Beatrice smiled, her voice warm and patient like the most-experienced grade-school teacher, while the aneurysm she was giving Caroline intensified. Caroline had never experienced anything like this-the pain was not merely a fireball exploding in her head like a usual magical migraine. No, it was focused and exacting, and Caroline's brain felt like an ancient book with its pages all stuck together, only they were now being separated one slice after another by a rough merciless hand.

She heard Beatrice's eerily calm voice amongst her own agonized pants, "do you ever long for that inevitable pull? Envy that bond that soulmates are said to have? Just between us girls, do you secretly picture how you will tingle all over whenever your destined one and only steps foot into the same room as you?"

Never in a million years would Caroline answer to that, especially not to her sick torturer. But the truth was she did. After all these years of being pitied and ridiculed, of feeling less from missing that joke of a mark, there was still a part of her that would touch her own skin inch by withering inch in the coldest of nights, imagining a pair of hands that would bring every dying cell back to life, and lips and tongue that would burn into her a mark only visible to the two of them.

What surprised Caroline was that in these wild imaginations of hers that other person was no longer a puff of faceless mist.

She didn't know when or how it changed; but every once in a while when she indulged herself into those secret chambers of her dreams, she saw him.

She saw Klaus.

And there would be an imperceptible lapse in her whole existence, like time actually stumbled, leaving her dangling in blank but vibrating in anticipation. Like the first time he sauntered into the door of her bar, the sound of the zipper of his leather jacket clicking with one of his necklaces echoing into her ears, and she shook her cocktail shaker 31 times instead of 30.

Which annoyed her to no end because she had a system. 30 shakes, over her shoulder, using 10% of her usual strength, and you'd find the perfect sheer of mist on the surface of the container. She'd been doing it for almost five years without a single miss-that was, until the night Klaus walked into her bar.

There was a subtle burning creeping up her skin even before she noticed him. Tiny flames and sparks that were so easy to overlook in the hustle and bustle of a fully-packed bar at 10 in the evening, when a whole day of intermittent but nonstop alcohol consumption made every local vampire in the house louder than a bunch of underage-drinking kids. But the heat, slowly yet determinedly, shrouded her in a warm haze, invisible smoke teasing her senses into tipsy excitement even though she had a strict no-drinking-while-bartending rule. And her palms, all of a sudden feeling like they were kissed by fire, craved the coolness of her shaker a moment too long.

Merely a blink of an eye, and there was no going back. Something undefinably extra just like the all too gorgeous man pushing himself into her face in a regal stance, his dark-blonde eyelashes barely hiding the smoldering stare behind.

"Red, neat, from the tap."

Up close, Caroline could sense the residue murderous vibe radiating off of him. His jaw was set into hard lines, his shoulders tense, his eyes slightly squinted like more experienced vampires tended to do when they felt the short-of-emerging veins tapping just under their taut skin. Flecks of amber glinted in his irises like hot breathing charcoal, and an urge stirred inside Caroline to roll in those deadly heat even if it killed her in golden-colored blazes.

Wait, that color…something registered in her head and her back stiffened for a millisecond before she let out a snort.

"Adding the magic word would be nice."

He smiled, running his hand along that inviting scruff on his chin, "I'd say 'incendia', but it's already so hot in here."

"If you are going for lame and cheeky with your lines, then congratulations, you're doing great." Caroline fake-winked at him, clenching her fists a little to hide the flushed palms. The line was wrong, sure, but he must be doing everything else right-not that Caroline would tell him.

"And if the art of bartending entails beauty and tardiness, you're excelling at it, love."

Caroline whipped around to face her glass shelf, making sure he could see the reflection of her hard scoffing face. Looking to no avail for a slightly chipped or stained glass (she knew her perfectionist ways would bite her in the ass one day), she settled for taking the one on the top of the stack, making sure to let the wide neckline of her silk blouse sag effortlessly in the motion, fully revealing her delicate shoulder blades.

The almost inaudible intake of breath sent shivers down her back.

She poured half an inch of scotch in the glass, staring defiantly at him all the way but he said nothing, his eyes dark and intrigued. Waving Vicky, the on-call human "volunteer" over, she gently took the brunette's offered wrist, "knife or me?"

Vicky laughed, toying with her wild curls in nonchalance, "you had to ask?"

Caroline shrugged. Vicky was in this half for the money, and half for the exhilaration. Five years ago, or even three, Caroline would frown at the clear self-destructive tendencies or even try to talk her out of it like a mother hen, but tonight she just looked Vicky right in the eyes while her fangs descended and murky veins marred her face.

 _Beware of the monster, always._

She sank her fangs in and withdrew almost instantly, situating the open wound towards the glass as she licked her lips clean. In the arousing dripping sound of blood she glanced at the man at the bar, taking in the gorging hunger in his eyes, not directed at the velvet red liquid quickly filling the glass, but at her. Biting the corner of her lips, Caroline's eyes lowered for a second, only to notice the dried blood in his fingernails, and images flooded her head of those fingers over her, on her, in her…

As if possessed, Caroline bit into her own index finger and hovered it just above Vicky's rosy lips. No need for further prompting, Vicky sucked it in, her tongue wrapping around the incision while her eyes half-closed in ecstasy. Caroline's breath hitched as she heard the tiny cracks of the bar top, a churning in her stomach when she thought about those bloodied fingers that were crushing it.

The moment ended in haste when Vicky let go of her finger, the wound on her wrist already healed, "well that was super fun. We should make it a habit."

"Vicky…I don't think we should see each other anymore." Caroline responded in a suddenly trembling voice.

"But I thought…? Why?" Vicky's eyes widened, rims red.

Caroline sighed with a sad smile, "you and I both know we're on different paths. It's just not meant to be."

"But I love you!" Vicky exclaimed dramatically, her eyes watering fast.

"Has that ever been enough for us?"

Caroline picked up the glass just in time to catch a few drops of Vicky's tears, "thanks, Vic."

Vicky wiped her face, all anguish gone with a flick of her hair, "no problem, I love our improv sessions, plus I have an audition tomorrow." She dabbed a finger under her eyes to fix the running mascara, "hey you're really good at this. Did you take those lines from another show or something?"

Caroline nodded, the edges of her smile dimming slightly, "yeah, something like that."

Sometimes she thought about how plain and lame the dialogue would be if her life was a TV show, how it would be canceled mid-season, if picked up by an equally plain and lame network at all. But she didn't dwell on that, as her life ran year after year like the unfinished script hidden in someone's bottom drawer, stained with countless liquor and the stench of loneliness.

"Let me guess. You are into role-playing?"

She heard the man's husky voice behind her as Vicky sashayed back into the crowd. Slipping the drink across the counter to him, Caroline rolled her eyes, "whatever filthy fantasies you are running in your filthy mind, stop it." Yet her voice sounded weak somehow, more like a plea than a warning.

He smirked, giving her a knowing look, taking the glass right where she'd held it seconds ago, and Caroline startled at the shocks on her finger tips, her skin humming even at the indirect touch.

And to her observation the man wasn't immune either. He paused for a second, his fingers lingering, and when he finally opened his mouth his voice sounded strained, "this is not what I ordered."

"I know."

He swished the glass casually, the shadows of red swirling in his eyes of blue, "and the tears? Trying to make me taste remorse?"

"Nah, just an extra kick of salt."

"I would rather lick that off your wrist." He smirked, thumb caressing the wall of the glass like it was warm trembling flesh, the tip of his tongue brushing over his bottom lip in blatant seduction.

Two could play the game, and Caroline always rose at the face of a challenge. "Call it a bartender's magic-you don't know what you want until I serve it to you."

"Careful with the flair for dominance, love." He raised the glass at her, "I might get attached."

At the time, Caroline wouldn't have known how foreshadowing this particular conversation from their first encounter would be, at least in the bedroom department. They'd tried the bloodied fingers thing, the dominant thing, the role-play thing (she could still recall how she'd licked the dent Cinderella's glass shoe left at the bottom of his spine while his iron-hard cock spilled into her palm), and a thousand more.

Her life may have been a cheap run-down teen drama but when he came into the picture it suddenly shifted into a European movie that had subtitles but might as well didn't because there wasn't much dialogue to begin with.

She wasn't sure about the getting attached part though-or so she told herself. They'd known each other for five years but the total time they'd spent together was less than five months. She was always moving. Something she promised herself ever since she left her supernatural Bermuda of a hometown as a newly-turned vampire and never looked back.

Vampires didn't put down roots. They were dead and nothing would ever grow out of it.

So she stayed in one town after another, some for a couple months, some merely days. There was never really a shortage of supernatural bars if you knew where to look, and it helped that she was pretty and made a kick-ass Bloody Mary with a special emphasis on the "B".

But Klaus always found her. He never made a fuss about her disappearing without a goodbye. He'd just stalk into whatever bar she was working at with a smirk on his face or simply sneak into her bedroom with his face between her legs, bringing her to the edge even before she awoke but left her hanging on the precipice long after she did, until it was dawn and she was finally shown the mercy of erupting in tandem with the morning sun-Caroline wasn't complaining about _that_.

She didn't know how he did that. He probably had an army of minions and some top-notch tech guys to put chips in everything she owned so he could track her to the other side of the earth. But that explanation leaned too much towards the "getting attached" thing and Caroline's skin felt flushed and clammy even just thinking about it.

Or maybe it was because she was at the end of her thread hanging to the side of a cliff with a key in her heart.

"It'll be our little secret." Beatrice had whispered once her painful scream subsided, "see? Good as new from the outside."

Caroline looked down with great effort, fighting through each agonizing breath. True as the witch said, there was no visible proof of the torture she had been, and still was, subjected to. No open wound, no scratches, not even a hole or blood stains on her top. Damned witches and their damned magic. "Why bother? He's gonna find out right away. It's not like I traded my voice for this or anything."

Beatrice laughed long and hard at that.

"Good to know I've still got a decent sense of humor." Caroline bit out through her clenched teeth.

"Oh sweetie I'm sorry, it's not your joke." Beatrice eyed her with suspicious delight and sympathy, "It just astound me how strong the pull is-and how blind you appear to be. You laugh in contempt at the mere mention at soulmates," her pointed stare grabbed onto Caroline's like claws of ice, "yet here you are, so sure that Niklaus would show at the first sign of you in peril."

"Have you ever wondered why he could always find you so fast? Why you can't seem to shake him off your thoughts? Why you trusted him so easily?" Beatrice's voice lowered enough to give her goose bumps, "or, if you care to reminisce, what divine force drove you out of that little town before your friends got on his wrong side?"

"You've seen enough to know there is no such thing as coincidence, _child_."

A gust of piercing cold wind brought Caroline out of her tumbled thoughts. She should really focus on climbing rather than letting her mind wander freely while her body got dangerously close to desiccation. If she should desiccate in this state, would she fall off the cliff and break into a thousand stone pieces? Would Klaus collect every one of them and put her back together?

Caroline gagged a little at the mental picture. Klaus was probably more into these morbid thoughts. _If I could grind you into dust and blend you in my paints_ …he used to muse into her ear while playing with her swollen nipples, his temporarily softened cock hot at her still wet, shivering entrance.

"What? You'd make a painting out of it to cart around with you?"

His chuckle buzzed down her naked back, drawing another spasm out of her well-fucked pussy and his palm instantly ran hot and steady down her stomach to soothe her, "there is really no comparison, is there? A painting will reveal its beauty only when appropriate lighting is arranged, whereas you, sweetheart," he kissed down her neck, forehead and eyelashes and tip of nose grazing her skin as if to bask in her, "you light up a room all by yourself."

A part of her was stunned, floating in limbo looking down at herself with unseeing eyes and hitched breaths. Yet the other felt so warm and full the weirdest thing spilled out of her parted lips, "I'd make a gorgeous painting though."

His beautiful laugh grounded her to reality like his strong arms around her waist, "that you would, love," he flipped them over until he was on top of her, lashes brushing and smiles mirroring, "that you would."

Before Klaus, Caroline had long since resigned to the fact that she was the one out of a million vampires that didn't even have the slimmest slip of hope to find a soulmate. She was destined to lie her bare, clear skin against someone who'd always dream of a blurry face down the road, a face that could be anyone in the world but her.

Caroline remembered seeing some movie about a woman who had the terrible disease of not being able to recognize anyone's facial features. The poor woman would draw the pattern of her fiancée's shirt collar and tie on her notebook just to prove that he was not like anyone else. Of course at the end of the movie she found "the one", whose face she could actually remember, but even if she didn't-it would still be okay, Caroline told herself.

Even the ones with a mark weren't bestowed the guarantee of an eternity with a soulmate. A lot of them didn't get to feel the bond, the sparks, the _rightness_ ; instead they were trapped in endless searching and longing and feeling lost, just like her.

Being the optimist she was Caroline had dreamed long and hard about someone who wasn't so set on finding "the one". They could give it a shot. So what if the compatibility wasn't one hundred percent and they didn't get nature's ultimate blessing? She'd work really, _really_ hard to make up for that. She'd take a thousand books of notes if she had to, so long as _some_ sedimented endearment came out of the ten or fifty years they spent together after "it'll-do"-at-first-sight.

How naïve she'd been.

She was like a tow truck in most of her past relationships, straining to get forward an inch at a time with a dead weight, which she'd sooner or later lose along the road.

Yet with Klaus, everything was different. She was running east and west in circles but somehow he'd always catch up, without missing a step. It was so natural and perfect, like those figure skating pairs dancing to the music, keeping in sync with each other by a mere glance; and it was absolutely terrifying because she felt like she was falling at any minute, only that it never did happen and instead she was…soaring.

"The soul wants what the soul wants." Beatrice was taunting her in her pain-ridden mind, "the sooner you admit to it, the sooner your heart will be free."

Funny how everyone kept saying that, no matter their varied assumptions on _her_ life. _You are soulmates. You are not soulmates. You don't have a soulmate. You'll be alone and empty forever_ -admit to it.

Caroline clang to the rocks above her, pushing herself up all on the fulcrum of her exposed bones. She didn't have to _admit_ to anything. So far her immortal life was shorter than her human one, and even that short span she'd fought all the way through-by her deadly fangs that bit like a champ, not by proving people right.

"I enjoy the way you fight." Klaus once complimented her, his lips stretching into a sharp curl as if replaying the swing of her fist.

She frowned at that, "are you mocking me?"

Caroline knew she wasn't skilled at physical combat. She wasn't bad, all things considered, but of all the things at which she'd consider herself a pro, throwing punches wasn't high on the list.

"Not at all, love." Klaus chuckled, the sound going straight to parts of her body that she didn't dare think of in his presence, "of course, you are still young, your strength is lacking, and some of your attacks weren't that efficient to begin with-"

"You are doing a fantastic job proving your point." Caroline tossed out in sarcasm, her arms crossing.

Klaus smiled almost indulgently at that, continuing without a pause, "-but the way you threw yourself all in, like the whole world behind you was on fire and you had no room for retreat. It was…breathtaking."

His eyes landed on her lips and she just knew he was wondering if she kissed like she fought, because every bit of her body was feeling the heat of that fire he just described, screaming at her to close her eyes and lean forward.

That was the first night they met.

It wasn't really a good night, bartending-wise. For one it was a weekend, and weekend meant free time for all the humans (or the vampires that cared to keep a cover job), which led to an overflow of vamp-groupies and victims with sheer dumb luck who didn't know what they were getting themselves into. Plus there was a mysterious massacre in town-a whole house of vampires wiped out in less than ten minutes (later her suspicions were confirmed that Klaus had a little bit of "business" to attend to), which put all the vampires in a testy mood.

Caroline internally groaned when she saw Brady traipsing inside. Ever since she freed an innocent human girl from his grasp the newly-turned vampire had been messing with her nonstop. So far he'd more or less stuck to the bar's rule of no open fights in public areas, but still it was a real pain dealing with his vicious taunts and tricks.

"There she is." Brady leaned over the counter grinning wide, "my favorite bartender."

"Brady." Caroline kept her face neutral. In the corner of her eyes she could see Klaus leaning back with his blood-scotch in hand, fingers tapping the rim of the glass in piqued interest.

"So how have you been? Anything new?" Brady gushed in a fake high-pitched voice, "haircut? No? Got any tattoos yet?"

Caroline's eyes narrowed, "no, but I see you've got one, and I got to say, it's not looking very good." Suddenly she gasped, hand covering her mouth feigning surprise, "oh wait-that's just your very unpleasant personality."

Klaus' snorted laugh tickled her right ear just as the sound of Brady clenching his teeth reached her left.

"Oh yeah? Well your boyfriend must be very fond of your sharp tongue, Miss Pleasant Personality." The young vampire bit out, "oh wait-that's your ex. And I bet that sweet little ass of yours he was only in it for the tongue, and nothing more."

Caroline stiffened for a second before answering, her voice crisp and cold, "either order or get out, Brady."

Brady sneered, knowing he'd hit a weak spot, "Closing shop so early? What? Can't wait to go back home and cozy up with your copy of One Hundred Years of Solitude?"

"And where did you learn that title from? Summer school?"

The one thing all young vampires hated-well, all young _persons_ hated-was being reminded of their own age. Caroline should know-she'd been there after all.

She watched with triumphant amusement as Brady bristled, her eyes widening in alert as he bent down and broke the leg off his stool. Klaus' stance changed in her peripheral but she didn't leave him the chance to make a move. In the blink of an eye she had Brady's hand pinned on the counter with the makeshift stake he was just holding, turning the young vampires raged roar into a painful hiss.

"Always keep in mind that I have a good five years on you." She smirked while holding the stake firmly in place, "sure it won't seem too huge a gap when we both have another century or so on our belts, but who knows?" She lowered her voice menacingly, "you may not get that far."

"Now that's one stool and a dent on my newly renovated countertop." She pushed the tip jar into Brady's twisted face, "if you don't mind?"

It wasn't very nice, stooping to his level. But it felt freakishly good.

So good that she was humming to herself while wiping the blood off the counter, and Klaus' velvety voice startled her, "that was quite impressive."

"Thanks." Caroline eyed him warily, "for trying to help."

For a moment the guy almost looked shy, his head lowered to just the right angle, dimly-shining curls tempting her to sink her fingers in that inviting softness, "not that you needed it."

"Still." Caroline mumbled out. She was barely paying attention to their conversation, her skin burning up from their proximity. He smelled like a windy forest and blood and scotch, scotch that she just poured him, which was now glistening on his very kissable dark-red lips…

"So…you are an outlier then?"

"Seriously?" Caroline raised her eyebrows in annoyance.

Klaus quirked his own brows in response, "what? Sore subject?"

"You are unbelievable."

"Come on, love," Klaus crooned, the sound rolling off of Caroline's nerve endings like a gentle-caressing hand, "don't tell me you still believe in the soulmate myth."

"I don't." Her voice wasn't as sure as she thought it would be, "with all due respect-it's a cheat sheet."

"One could argue you are just sour."

Caroline shrugged, "maybe I am. Who wouldn't want to have it easy?" She accidentally inhaled too deep and had to steady herself from the irony woodsy musk filling her chest, feeling light-headed, "you know, to be able to recognize his scent like it's extracted from your own pores;" His eyes deliciously burnt into her and her bones were just short of melting, marrow hot as lava, "to sense his presence so strong, the pull so irresistible; To know without a shadow of doubt that he's yours even before you learn his last name…"

Her voice dropped to a moaning whisper as she heard something akin to a growl rumbling in his wide, sculpted chest. She could swear she saw his necklaces vibrating to the sound, or maybe it was her treacherous body all along.

"You are right, sweetheart." He sighed into their tangled gaze, "who wouldn't indeed."

They spent the rest of that night never revisiting the soulmate subject. She wondered briefly if he had the mark. There were all kinds of rumors concerning the soulmate condition of the originals (it was an easy guess-he even gave her his name upfront, and Caroline had not been immersed five years in the alcohol-drenched supernatural grapevines for nothing), the most melodramatic one being that they all bore the same mark and were trapped eternally in the incestuous bond.

But never would she have thought that one day she'd personally be involved in those rumors.

Klaus was discreet, and more so was she. But after a few years of "bumping into" each other all over the world in crowded establishments where walls had supernatural ears and eyes, it shouldn't come as a surprise that she'd hear the story of "the original hybrid finally finding his soulmate after a thousand years" quoted back to her with eye-opening details.

"They say she's an outlier, you know?" The girl giggled over her seventh shot of tequila, winking at Caroline secretively, "or thought she was. But it turns out she had the mark all along. The hybrid found it when he was…you know, and it was in her-"

Caroline had to "accidentally" break three glasses in a row to shut her up.

It felt weird hearing about _them_ from other people's lips. Weirder when she made the mistake of moving to Chicago aka one of Klaus' favorite playgrounds where everyone treated her like the Queen and tipped her at least a hundred percent (she high-tailed it out of that insane town in less than a week).

And then there were these moments when he unceremoniously entered her newest workplace, all eyes were turning and the boisterous screams and laughter seconds ago suddenly dropped into a sea of hushed whispers, while he leant forward at the bar and waited for her to pour him a drink without a word. When she pushed the filled glass to him but he pushed it aside and pulled her in instead, his tongue stirring up a storm inside her while his lips swallowed every clash of thunder with greed and desire and endearment. When their kiss ended but not quite, and he lingered at the corner of her mouth just soaking her in, not making a sound, but she heard the soft utterance of "sweetheart" in the deepest corner of her soul.

In those moments it wasn't weird at all.

It felt so right that she shivered to her core in unnamable fear.

"You make me expect things." She confessed that fear to him in one of the rare nights when she was off her bartending duty and actually got some much-needed alcohol in her circulation system.

"And that's a bad thing, why?" He tucked a strand of her tousled hair behind her ear, thumb gently stroking the soft skin just behind her earlobe and Caroline felt all of her living senses flocking to that one spot like fireflies, hot and pattering.

"Because…" She was at a loss for words. Acting on instinct, she leaned in, the familiar magnetic pull heavy on her lips and her eyelids fluttered half-shut. Her breath caught when he was just a millisecond away, his scent coating her lips like the smoothest wine, softly burning for more, and it took all her will power to stop there, hovering.

"You feel this?" She murmured in desperation, every touch on her lips that wasn't his hurt, "it never stops."

"And again," he touched his forehead to hers, eyes warm and tender, "that's a bad thing, why?"

He chuckled at her frustrated huff, catching her pouting lower lip in between his teeth briefly before letting her go, "I know you'd touch these sweet lips of yours to mine eventually, if not this moment then the next. And that, sweetheart, is an expectation."

Suffice it to say that particular expectation was met almost instantly.

Caroline didn't know why she kept thinking about him. If she didn't know better she'd diagnose herself with severe werewolf bite. The symptoms certainly fit: she was in fever, nauseous, coughing up blood, her whole body was sore, and these unbidden thoughts of Klaus might as well have been hallucinations.

But the feeling of the key in her flesh was clear as the daylight that never seem to dawn. She had no idea how long she'd been climbing, or how far she'd come. People often took vampire's heightened senses too literal, but it wasn't just the strength or the speed. They saw clearer, they thought faster, they measured all variables more accurately-basically they had a much better grasp of the world.

And now all that was gone for the moment except for one-Caroline had the gut feeling that Beatrice wouldn't let her die.

She also had the gut feeling that whatever came after she climbed up this cliff wouldn't be easy. Who knew what it would take to dig the damn key out. If it was up to her she'd rather be bitten by a werewolf, at least then they'd know the cure for sure.

She paused as the word "they" crossed her mind, realizing that she'd never even contemplated the possibility of Klaus not being there when she tackled the climb, however hard that was proving to be.

In all fairness she'd never been one to stay away from trouble for long, but she was smart and a fast learner, and if "getting out of hazardous situations" was an actual job she'd nail the interview in flying colors. But looking back, there had been a few close calls in the past years, and she probably wouldn't even be hanging here if not for Klaus. Somehow he always knew when to show up.

He was there when a few nights after they met each other, Brady and his friends ambushed her in the back alley behind the bar; he was there down in New Orleans when she was protecting her witch roommate from her ridiculously powerful coven that had clearly gone cuckoo; he was there when she had that untimely run-in with the werewolf pack in the Appalachians.

That last one happened just a few months ago. She was out of it pretty much the entire time, her last coherent memory the werewolves sinking their venomous teeth in her, and then there was just bits and pieces of fiery pain and insatiable thirst. She found herself back in the world of consciousness with the taste of death and blood mingling on her tongue. _His_ blood.

He was holding her tightly in his arms, his voice bone-weary with barely contained anxiety and relief, "as much as I enjoy the lovely stroke of serendipity in our encounters, sweetheart, I would rather not keep finding you in such compromising status."

"Well it's nice seeing you too, Klaus." She couldn't help nuzzling into his chest a little more, but not before she looked up and found his face devoid of any emotions.

"I'm serious, Caroline."

Despite the stony expression he sounded pained, like there was some flesh-eating wound growing inside him.

"I don't understand." But a part of her was starting to, as she took in the tremors of his eyelashes and the rawness that they tried to hide beneath.

"I can't promise that I'll always be there." Anger was brewing in the deep cut of his frown and he swallowed, hard, his jaw shaking imperceptibly, "you can't ask that of me."

Caroline sighed, raising a hand to cup the tense lines of his face, "you don't have to make that promise."

Klaus' glare was nearly murderous when his eyes harshly cut into hers, but bit by bit they softened like the end of a rigid winter night, his lips thawing into a faint smile, "I'm afraid that's not up to you…love."

There was a halt in his speech before he whispered his long-term nickname for her, the word sounding too light and frivolous all of a sudden. But it was tempered by the moment of hanging silence that came just before, filled with what he could not say-need not say.

That moment was burnt into Caroline's memory, replaying on loop for the months to come when she couldn't get to sleep fast enough. And now it was montaged in her mind with the scene of Beatrice idly fingering the unknown herbs scattered around the antique table, her eyes intent as if reading them like tea leaves, "you are Niklaus' soulmate, as he is yours. And no, it has nothing to do with fate, but everything to do with magic, namely, me."

Her motions stopped for a minute, a smile creeping up the tiny wrinkles around her eyes, "well, it might have something to do with fate. After all, I didn't know who he'd end up with when I cast the spell." She studied Caroline with gleaming eyes, "how intriguing to see it play out."

Caroline, for one, didn't find it intriguing at all, especially when this whole show was put on at her expense. Sometimes she just didn't understand these raging crazy ancient…beings who had long crossed the threshold of old age even in supernatural standards, Klaus included. Hell Klaus was no doubt the worst of them all, though she now had to pen in Beatrice alongside his name.

They had the true taste of immortality, of seeing so much that anything was dispensable, of living so long that boredom became the only lethal nemesis.

Which was probably why they conjured up a ruse that fooled the entire vampire population for almost a thousand years, and would continue to drive them to hell and back with false hope and misguided dedication for thousands more to come.

A ruse Caroline had been in on since four years ago.

Back then she was still a nameless vampire bartender (who was having sporadic clandestine meet-ups with the original hybrid, but no one needed to know about that), instead of the mysterious blonde outlier that every vampire knew to be _Klaus' newfound soulmate_. It was in San Francisco, a trendy night club with a surprisingly tasteful wine cellar, where Caroline had took Klaus' full length down her throat in one swift move before the knowledge that he appeared out of nowhere even registered in her head.

She went back to the bar with his scent still lingering at the back of her tongue, the obscenities he'd muttered through ragged breaths echoing in her head, making her toes curl and her pace uneven. And there he was, waiting at the bar smirking with those lips that only seconds ago parted in breath-taking vulnerability.

The desire to kiss him ripped through Caroline like an earthquake, and she poured him a bourbon laced with blood while the crumbles boomed in her ears.

"A fine establishment I have to say." Klaus sipped at his drink, "and the cellar was just _divine_."

Caroline watched the dark liquid tainting his lips, and impulsively acted on the sudden urge to break her rule. She reached a hand to tip over the glass he was still holding, her lips touching the rim just beside the tip of his index finger, taking a long sip with her eyes drowning in his.

Klaus' fingers tightened around the glass, his hand almost following her when she finally drew back, "what happened to 'no drinking while working'?"

"I want to have a taste of tonight's special-bourbon, blood, and _you_." She stared in fascination as his eyes grew darker and more dazed with each word. She knew he was tasting the exact same thing as she, their hot messy kiss in the cellar after she'd swallowed the last drop of him still pulsing inside her mouth.

Klaus was just about to respond when a redhead in a crop top and mini skirt snuck up near him, touching his arm in blatant seduction, "I bet we have matching marks. I can just feel it."

Caroline snorted, not caring if the girl heard her or not. Klaus eyed her with dancing mirth in his eyes, not sparing the redhead a side glance, "I doubt that, sweetheart."

To her credit, the girl was persistent enough as she leaned forward, showing an eyeful of her cleavage, "well I can show you. I'm Celeste, by the way." Turning sideways, she jutted out her hip provocatively, heaping the hem of her skirt up in slow motion until it reached the end of her thigh, revealing a wild rose on her hip bone.

Six years into her vampirism and Caroline still felt it a little hard to breathe whenever she was in the presence of a soulmate mark. She couldn't fathom how other vampires were able to just prance around with that piece of magic force on their body like it was nothing. Or maybe it was the exposure-you spent enough time with your mark and grew used to the magic. She wouldn't know-she never had one to test it out.

But it seemed that Klaus wasn't totally immune to the magic radiating off the mark either, as he turned slightly around to contemplate the intricate lines of the rose, something flashing through his eyes, "a rare breed, I see."

Caroline frowned at that. As far as she knew, true soulmates notwithstanding, every soulmate mark was different than the other. But come to think of it, the clichéd flower design in the tattoo industry did seem kind of lacking in the sea of soulmate marks she'd seen. But she wasn't at all in the mood to ponder on that, flames flaring inside her as she watched Celested all but draped herself all over Klaus with her perky ass half hanging out.

"Now that I've caught your interest…" She blew into Klaus' ear, "care to show me yours?"

Klaus, happening to be in an infuriatingly better mood than Caroline at the moment, simply brushed her off, "sadly my passing interest was solely directed at that mark, not its bearer."

As soon as Celeste walked off in a huff, Caroline blurted out the question that was eating at her, "so what's your mark like anyway?"

They'd seen each other naked for countless times by that point, but she was always too caught in the moment and this strange, all-consuming pull she felt in her gut whenever she was around Klaus. Excuse her for not giving him a full-body examine.

"Does it matter?"

Caroline averted his eyes, "not really."

Whatever his mark was, she wouldn't match him anyway-not that she wanted to match him but…Caroline hated the hot tears that were suddenly blurring her vision, the only warmth left in her body as the coldness slithering across her skin freezing her into a numb empty shell of aching barrenness, "it's not like I have anything to compare notes with you."

Klaus covered her hand with his, a hint of concern in his voice, "you are better than that, Caroline. You don't need some pathetic little mark to dictate who you spend your eternity with."

His thumb gently brushed her knuckles and they felt warm and alive, but the rest of her skin was still cold as ice, so cold that her insides exploded in a bout of blazing hellfire.

"Well maybe I do!" She shook his hand off abruptly, her whole body trembling in heated fury, "maybe I want that mark, so bad that I could feel every inch of my damn skin hurting to the bones at night. Maybe I'm sick of the way people look at me, like I'm some ugly fruit that's bound to be thrown out of the cart before it even makes it to the stupid grocery store. Maybe just being like everyone else, having what they have, is enough for me."

"But it's not, is it?" He asked quietly when she finally finished her rant, his eyes boring into her eyes with such intensity she found herself locked into place, unable to look away.

"It could have been. If I had the mark in the first place." She answered weakly, not much fight left in her, but not ready to concede defeat.

His smirk was merciless while his eyes belied something akin to regret, "even if I told you it was all a lie?"

That night back into her apartment, he told her everything. How almost nine hundred years ago he and his siblings, with inebriated abandon, summoned a witch friend named Beatrice to perform a spell that would put a mark on every vampire born after that point. How they started the rumor of vampire soulmates for their own amusement, even though the only thing the marks could show was a vampire's true lineage.

"I was a little surprised earlier when I saw Celeste's mark, because it belonged to my brother Finn's bloodline, which was a small clan compared to the others." For a flitting moment nostalgia marred his face, "he was, in his bones, a nature's man. Thus the plant-shaped marks."

"Wait," Caroline frowned, "you said only the vampires born after that had the marks, and that was when the rumor started. What about the ones you turned before?"

His silence said it all. What better way to keep a secret than send it to the grave (or in their case, the other side)?

Caroline was shaking all over. Her mind couldn't wrap around this grand scheme, dragging so many in for centuries, only for the pleasure of so few. All those searching and longing, hearts broken or discarded, all for nothing but an illusion, a lie that wasn't even very well-crafted.

"Did you come up with this?" She turned her accusing eyes to Klaus. She wouldn't be surprised, having heard the ins and outs of the sun and moon curse from her past friends.

He shook his head, "this whole thing was more my brother Kol's style. The rest of us just went along. Though I can't say I didn't contribute to a part of the idea."

"Which part?" She shot back sharply.

For the first time since Klaus started telling the story, hesitation seeped into his voice, "the part where some of my bloodline wouldn't have a mark."

Caroline fled the city that very night.

For so long she'd been under the hold of this little mark. She'd went through the whole spectrum of emotions for it. She'd raged and ranted, shed tears, laughed in contempt, feigned nonchalance, and then went through the process all over again for a million times. And it all turned out to be nothing more than a drunken joke.

It was the single most sadistic thing she'd ever heard, and Caroline found herself in a violent turmoil that she wasn't sure she could ever get out of. Anger and loss clawed at her heart, vengeful triumph spurred her on while inexplicable sadness ran over the wounds its bitter trail, but all of this still couldn't quite hide the tiny shoots of happiness and relief that…he didn't have a soulmate after all.

And on top of it all she missed him. Despite better judgment, out of sane senses or control, every fiber of her being ached for that egotistical, manipulative, cruel-out-of-his-mind sociopath. She cursed his name while touching herself in the darkness of her room, her hot wet sex clenching painfully around her own fingers as the curses turned into inaudible sighs.

Deep in her heart she knew she just needed time. Maybe in a year, or a century, she'd be able to look past this and take another chance.

Klaus gave it three months.

Caroline heard his laugh before she even stepped foot into the night club. Or rather, she felt it vibrating on her oversensitive skin that had been starved of him since the big reveal of the millennium. She steadied herself on her newly-purchased four-inch high heels. They were as gorgeous as they were uncomfortable, Buenos Aires was exceptionally warm and humid that night, there was only five minutes left until her shift started, and Caroline was in no mood to deal with him whatsoever.

Half an hour of mixing and serving, stumbling through her recently revived high school level Spanish, batting her eyelashes till she had spasms through her eyelids just to spite him while pretending not to hear his passionate and oh-so-tempting laughter, and Klaus finally sauntered over from his corner booth, the bunch of strangers he'd been surrounding himself with flanking him stiffly like puppets.

Caroline didn't even try to hide her grin when his ravenous eyes stayed on her breasts accentuated by a tight black tank top a minute too long and his Adam's apple bobbed at the sight, though the sound ignited a few fires inside her as well.

"Caroline." He drawled out her name with a lilt, knowing full well it always drove her near crazy with arousal.

"Oh it's you." She answered in a clipped tone, "why am I not surprised."

"Ouch." He put a hand over his heart dramatically, "I must be losing my touch. It's a good thing I brought company."

Caroline watched suspiciously as he pulled two brunettes out of his entourage, a vicious smirk on his face, "I present to you Jessie and Meg. You may not be aware but these two love birds are soulmates. What a marvelous thing."

"What are you getting at?" One glance at the couple's glassy eyes and Caroline was sure they were compelled.

"Patience, love." He chided softly, and though the words annoyed Caroline to no end the tone sent electric charges straight down to her toes, "now Jessie, how about you confess to us your undying love for your one and only?"

Jessie's face contorted in resentment, "I can't stand her."

"Shocking." Klaus shook his head, turning to Meg, "and you sweetheart? What do you feel about your soulmate?"

Clearly confused and frightened by the situation but unable to fight the compulsion, Meg was close to tears, "I feel nothing! I mean he's cute and all, but soulmate? There must be some mistake…"

"Hmmm," licking his raspberry lips Klaus gestured between the two, "see that's the problem. You two are such a miserable match-why are you together again?"

"Well we do have matching marks and I heard it's really rare, so there must be something…" Meg's words faltered to a stop.

"Klaus," Caroline clenched her fists, "whatever this is, stop it."

"Why? Are you not enjoying this?" Klaus quirked an eyebrow, "we haven't got to the best part yet. Come on, darling," he dragged a dirty blonde girl forward, "why don't you tell your story?"

"My boyfriend and I tell people we're soulmates but we're actually not. We just don't want them to think we are doomed, you know."

"And you, mate?" This time it was a skinny guy.

"I'm an outlier. I can't take the bullying anymore so I found a witch and paid her to put this spell on me so my tattoo feels like it has magic in it, I mean it doesn't hurt anybody, right? "

Caroline had heard enough. She knew Klaus had the tendency to go overboard-she witnessed with her own eyes how he peeled off Brady's soulmate mark with his bare hands and compelled him to scratch it off as soon as it grew back after he almost drove a stake into her heart. But at least she knew where he was coming from with that. This time, not so much.

"I swear to god, Klaus," she bit out through clenched teeth, "if you don't stop this farce right now I'll make sure you never ever find me again. Don't even start-" She pointed a finger at him, daring him to defy her, "you know I can if I really want to."

He held her gaze for a long while, the lines of his face harsh and unmoving, until finally letting out a heavy sigh. Caroline watched silently as he compelled his poor companions to forget about this and leave, his tone strained and spine rigid.

"That was unnecessarily cruel." She said heatedly after the last one of them was out of sight.

Klaus shrugged, "what can I say, love? You start a rumor, live long enough, and then you get to see it fester and even stir the wounds."

Caroline scoffed, "you feel so proud of yourself, don't you? The great mastermind, the almighty puppeteer, playing everyone with a snap of his finger with no regard to their feelings. You, and this mysterious, evil family of yours. You don't care about how people's lives would be turned upside-down. You don't care what this would do to some…pathetic girl a couple centuries later. So what if she loses a few nights', or a few years' sleep over it? At least you had a good laugh while you were at it!"

"Caroline…" he wiped at his face frustrated, "you knew who I was all along. Did you honestly think I survived a thousand years by being a philanthropist? We are monsters, we do evil things, that's just the way it is."

"Is it though?" Caroline let out a cold laugh, the sound scratching her own ears, making her wince inwardly, "you are saying that you never felt a sliver of regret over this? That in a thousand years you haven't for one second doubted your crazyass choice? That you never looked at an outlier and thought about how capriciously unmerciful you've been?"

"Not until you."

Caroline's breath hitched at the vulnerability in his eyes. He gave her a sad little smile, pushing a lose strand of hair out of her face, his finger lighting tiny flames along the way, "and it's killing me inside that I can do nothing about it."

"But there is one thing I can tell you, sweetheart." His strokes along her jawline were soft as feathers and Caroline felt as if she were floating, but the sincerity in his eyes grounded her, "you don't have a streak of pathetic in you. I've seen thousands of vampires through the years and every one of them is caught up in this soulmate mesh, whether they are trying desperately to gnaw their way out or stay still. But you, love, you are the one bird that has her eyes for the sky."

She looked up, skin alight and lips agape, only to drown in the depths of his blue eyes, and the only notion crossing her mind was that the sky may well be another mesh. And when she pressed her burning lips to his so hard she couldn't tell his tongue from her own, she felt like it was okay.

Caroline would never have known that four years later she'd revisit this memory on the side of a cliff, and it was what pushed her through the last tens of feet of climb.

She wasn't that far from her destination after all.

As her fingers came into contact with the first flat surface she'd touched in like forever, she was enveloped in the warm embrace of his deep sigh, "we have got to stop meeting like this, sweetheart."

Next thing she knew she was lifted by a pair of strong arms and soon she landed in Klaus' lap, his familiar scent soothing every bit of soreness in her suffering body. Klaus was holding her securely against him while examining her up and down, his eyes closing briefly when he took in the wretched status of her hands.

Caroline chuckled weakly, "don't tell me the original hybrid feels faint at the sight of a little blood."

Klaus silently answered with a stern look her way, obviously not up for teasing.

But then again, he never was when he was the one being teased. When the roles were reversed the guy was a freaking hoot. Caroline vividly remembered when he was trying to talk her into a ridiculous position (which involved her hanging upside-down against him with her ankles crossed behind his neck) during sex he threw that "inspire, aspire and perspire" line from her Miss Mystic Falls application in her face. She could still feel his cock stirring so deliciously inside her from his laughter…

"Caroline?"

She felt Klaus shaking her gently, his brows knitted in worry. "Sorry, just zoned out for a bit." Clearly blood loss could cause her mind to wander. Well, that, and Klaus.

He nudged her head into the crook of his neck with a single word, "drink."

Caroline swallowed hard against his pulse point, her fangs twitching in her gum as the smell of his blood tempted her. Biting her lips, she pushed back slightly, meeting his anxious eyes, "I can't. You have to dig the key out first."

Letting the flesh heal around it would only make it harder to get out.

"Key?" Klaus' frown of confusion soon turned into a murderous look, "what did Beatrice do to you?"

Caroline didn't bother to ask him how he got his intel, "she buried a key in my heart. And before you make any suggestions, no we can't just snap my neck. She already did when she left me down there, and I could feel the key reemerging as I came back from the dead. It must be a part of the magic. We have to do it when I'm alive. Well, as alive as I can be."

A growl rumbled from Klaus' chest, "when I get my hands on that woman I will stab her all over with keys she'll look like a pin cushion. She dare touch what is mine…" Something dawned on him before Caroline had the chance to protest, "bloody hell."

"What?"

"Back when we were doing the soulmate mark ritual she asked me what I'd do if I did have a soulmate. And I told her-" he averted his eyes from Caroline's inquiring gaze, his voice trembling slightly, " _far be it from me to hold the key to someone's heart. I'd carve an inferno out of it yet._ "

"Hey," Caroline stroked the nape of his neck, "no inferno for me. You can compel me to not feel the pain and-"

Klaus wrapped his hand around her wrist, a knowing look in his eyes, "you are on vervain, aren't you?"

No one could be more aware of the fact than herself, but hearing it from him still sent her mind reeling. She'd been taking vervain every day since she first met him. She kept the habit even when they went months without crossing paths, when she had no guarantee that he'd show up ever again. But somehow, she just _knew_.

She counted on it, heart and soul, like it was the one sure thing in her life that could never fail her.

Growing up Caroline had always secretly loved winter. It was harsh and freezing and all her favorite summer dresses would have to go deep into the corner of her closet, but there was the ever-present expectation of snow. She'd be idly going about her life and suddenly snow was falling, and the whole world came to a still. Everything would silence until she could hear those distinct footsteps from a while away, her own heartbeats syncing with them.

It was the same way with Klaus. Only in this case everything was warm, burning even, and the proverbial snowflakes scorched her skin in the ultimate silence of the world.

"Do it, then." She looked him square in the eyes, "dig the key out of me."

"Are you sure?" Klaus pressed his palm to the left of her sternum, the heat seeping through her blood-soaked top drawing out a low moan from her, "Caroline, I will have to ram my hand in through here, break your ribcage, and reach up. You'll feel my every touch, right inside your heart."

She smiled, her eyes suddenly wet, "it's nothing I haven't felt before."

Klaus sucked in a sharp breath. Two seconds later his lips slowly curled into a mirroring smile, and Caroline had never seen such gentle fire as the one lighting up his eyes, "with pleasure, sweetheart."

He put her down on the ground and knelt over her, his hand shoving inside her chest as his lips crushed to hers, swallowing her scream of pain. His move was skilled and precise, as was his tongue, stroking all the sensitive spots inside her mouth. His other hand joined the ministrations, massaging her right breast, twitching her nipple whenever his tongue reached in deep, sending hot desire flowing all through her body and it almost surpassed the pain.

Almost.

Her head fell back in an agonized groan as he took her heart into his grip. The pain was so intense she felt paralyzed, the only other recognizable sensation the coldness on her lips from the loss of his.

"Shhhh, breathe, sweetheart, breathe." Klaus stroked her hair, kissing her lightly along her brow and nose, "do you still want me to go on?"

"Yes." She rasped shakily.

"Then we have to try something else."

Caroline nodded quietly, her eyes closing in exhaustion.

She felt his lips descending on her again, and she eagerly welcomed him, tangling his tongue with her own. Even with his hand grazing her heart this still felt nice, and her body was heating up fast. His left hand played with her nipple for a while before going south until it reached the hem of her panties. He ran a finger along her slit, feeling the wetness pooling down there, and Caroline moaned softly in response.

"I love how you are always ready for me, sweetheart." He whispered in her ear, tongue darting out to lick her earlobe as he pulled her panties down, fingers skillfully stroking her folds, "so wet. Even now. I can smell you all the way up here, Caroline."

Moaning again, she opened her eyes to meet his, and the raw desire in there bled through the charged air between them, washing over her like tides, and she felt something wet flowing down the inside of her thigh. The next second Klaus' finger was there, smearing it all over the sensitive skin.

"Already dripping?" He sucked behind her ear, "you are such a good girl today, sweetheart. So eager. I believe a treat is in order."

His fingers ran up to her clit and started drawing circles around it, pressing down in the center once every few strokes to draw a gasp from her in the quickly accumulating throes of pleasure. She was already on edge, her senses heightened through the series of ordeals she'd been through, and she hadn't had a decent release since they were last together. Minutes later she was panting hard, her head spinning and her pussy throbbing, just one push from teetering over.

"Yes, that's it." Klaus sucked on her pulse point, "come for me, love."

He pinched her clit with two fingers and an orgasm burst out of her, shaking her to her core. In that instant he pushed two fingers into her pussy while the hand that had been hovering around her heart dug inside the taut muscle.

Caroline screamed out at the doubled sensations. Pain and pleasure twirled inside her, twisting around each other in a torturing push-and-pull. Her ears were ringing and her sighed blurred in a mass of stars and black spots, and all she could hear was his voice.

"Focus on me, sweetheart. Feel my fingers inside your wet little pussy. You are so warm and tight Caroline." He started drilling into her with his joint fingers, brushing over her G-spot to draw out her orgasm, "you know how good it feels when you squeeze around me? Like you don't want to let go of me even for a split second?"

She could feel everything he was telling her, her toes curling from the prolonged ecstasy. She could also feel his other hand carefully searching around the walls of her heart, the motions surprisingly bringing out another shiver of lust.

His fingers started to pound faster, changing the angle so that his knuckles brushed her clit with each move. Sparks shot through her as another climax neared, the lingering heat of her last orgasm pushing the tides higher.

"Let go, love." Klaus' sultry voice was the last straw, "I know you have it in you."

The second orgasm ripped through her even stronger than the first, and along came with it the pain of his hand tearing through the valve between her ventricle and atrium, leaving Caroline trembling and spent. It was just too much, unbearably much, but as her mind cleared up a bit she noticed that Klaus' hand wasn't stopping, his thumb rubbing her swollen, oversensitive clit at the root, and her pussy clenched every time he made the tiniest move.

"Klaus," she looked up at him pleadingly, "I don't think I can…"

His kissed under her eyes so gently, and Caroline realized then that tears were running freely down her cheeks, "just hang in there a little longer. I can already feel the key, but it's right behind your aorta, if I dive in like this you won't be able to stand the pain." His fingers never stopped working their magic on her pussy, building her up with their ruthless touch, but his eyes were so gentle that she feared her heart would start clenching on his other hand as well, "one more. I promise it'll be over before you know it."

For a moment she doubted she'd ever get there, having just come twice in minutes. All the sensations he was pulling out of her were gone in a blink, disappearing into the unknown corners of her body without a trace. But gradually they started lighting flames in the most unexpected places, the tips of her fingers and toes, her forearms and shoulders, and then the insides of her thighs, all the flames joining force, unfurling into a drawn-out blaze, setting every vessel and every cell on slow sizzling fire.

When she was once again close to the precipice, he leaned further down, silently baring the side of his neck to her. Caroline didn't hesitate to sink her fangs into his pulsing artery, the sweet nectar of his blood flowing smoothly down her throat, and she felt her orgasm all but consumed her with the bloodstream pushing it to even the furthest end of her extremities.

She didn't know how long it was until she came down from her high. Her eyes could barely stay open, but she saw the glint of the key between his fingers, all soaked in her blood. She could tell she was being lifted back into his arms, his hard chest against her cheek bringing more sense of safety and content than the feeling of her heart knitting itself back together.

"Beatrice said we are soulmates." She murmured into his shirt.

"To quote your words of wisdom, my love," he sealed a kiss at the corner of her lips, "it's nothing I haven't felt before."


End file.
